Barbados Advocate workers awaiting fate as company officials outline way forward for paper

Staff at the country’s oldest newspaper, The Barbados Advocate have been informed that short-term layoffs may be on the horizon.

And still uncertain about their jobs even after getting outstanding salaries last month, employees say the news of the layoffs was adding to their anxieties.

“We were told that the company is looking to start back publishing at the beginning of next month but on a smaller scale at first and that this may mean lay-offs, where one group will be laid off for a set of time when another group works and then is brought back on while that other group goes is laid off,” one employee who requested anonymity informed the Barbados TODAY.

Publication of the daily newspaper halted at the beginning of the year because of staff shortages, after several employees left the company because of non-payment of salaries.

This came on the heels of the company’s main bank account being frozen in July 2021 due to legal action by one of the sons of the newspaper’s late owner Sir Anthony Bryan, against one of the members of the board, which left The Barbados Advocate with no access to money to pay workers.

Staff were left eight months behind in salary payments but the injunction was lifted last month and outstanding monies were paid.

However, the remaining employees are still unclear about the company’s future.

“Any decision on layoffs will have implications on salaries and contracts, so I need a clearer picture to be painted of what the company plans on doing because it will have a direct impact on myself and my family,” one worker stressed.

Another employee told Barbados TODAY that management had indicated at a meeting earlier this month that as operations resume gradually, publications will be reduced from the traditional daily frequency.

“We are just waiting to see what will happen. Obviously, we are hoping that the paper can resume because the 18 months where we were affected by the bank account being frozen were not easy and now that we have finally been paid, this is yet another hurdle to get past. 

“This paper has been up and running for over a century and I would hate to see it not be a part of the Barbadian landscape,” the worker said. (BT)