by Carlos Atwell
For more than a decade, former workers of the former Grand Barbados Hotel have been fighting for severance pay.
Now, with mortgages and utility bills climbing, they are pleading for help from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.
Yesterday in Queen’s Park, spokesman Michael Lorde and ten of the 28 affected workers, from food and beverage to front office staff, gathered and detailed their plight.
“I was a waiter there from 1986 to 2011. We had been working short time for the past eight years until 2011 when the hotel closed for renovations and we were laid off with promises to rehire.
“Back then, [now Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) general secretary] Toni Moore was our representative and advised us to apply for severance as we had been in limbo past the stipulated allotted time. In 2012 and 2013 we went to the NIS (National Insurance Scheme) and ever since then, all we hear is ‘we will give you a call’ or the lawyer gone overseas. . .” (CA)
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