Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic has intervened in a brewing dispute between workers attached to the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit and senior officials in his ministry over hazard pay, travel allowances and sick leave compensation.
In an interview, Bostic, who is also dealing with the controversial rollout of Safe Zones, promised to also meet with the disgruntled Community Health Liaison Officers soon.
He explained that whilst some of the concerns are legitimate, there were other matters that needed clarification.
“Some of the things are true and some things are hidden that they are unaware of, but I can say to you that I have convened a Zoom meeting with all of the Community Health Liaison Officers,” Bostic told Barbados TODAY.
Last week, frustrated workers claimed that thousands of dollars in travel allowances and hazard pay accumulated over the course of the year were still outstanding. Adding insult to injury was an apparent decision to deduct payments for sick leave, even for persons infected with COVID-19 and their reliance on a ‘gentleman’s arrangement’ in the absence of written contracts.
However, on Monday, Chapman informed them of a meeting with high ranking public health officials on Thursday morning.
In addition to the previous issues, Minister Bostic disclosed that he has also been informed of challenges relating to overtime payments that he was eager to investigate, but was adamant that workers who are entitled to travel allowances have been receiving it.
“There are some persons who have made submissions that do not meet the criteria for travel. For example, if you have more than one person travelling in the same vehicle, they all can’t claim. Those are the sorts of issues that have to be sorted out. But at the meeting, we will get to the bottom of things,” said the minister.
Overall, he praised the officers for their outstanding work in the COVID-19 fight and promised that discussions are ongoing to significantly improve the terms of their employment.
“We depend heavily on them and they have been a source of great assistance for the Ministry of Health and Wellness,” said Bostic.
“Also, the Permanent Secretary is looking at dealing with the Ministry of the Public Service in relation to re-grading and looking to see how best we can deal with them, because some of them, of course, have been asked to do more than what was originally intended. I don’t know if these things are not being communicated to them, but that is why I want to meet with them along with the Permanent Secretary so that we can hear from them and speak to them,” the minister concluded.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
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