Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Simona Broomes yesterday led a team on an inspection of Barama Company Limited’s Buck Hall operations in the north west, GINA said.
According to the minister, the Government will demand that employees are given the required protective gear, a working environment that is conducive to production and workers’ safety and, that workers are fairly compensated.
Broomes told the managers that her Ministry had received several complaints from employees of the company hence the visit. GINA said that the managers were briefed on the details of the complaints by the Minister’s team and they have since committed to implementing measures to address these. One of the main concerns raised by the workers during their meeting with the Minister was the need for a wage increase. The Minister said that this is being addressed as extensive deliberations were held with the managers.
“The workers’ concerns are being addressed because that (wages) was the biggest part of the deliberations, action is being taken on it. I must say from the outset, in terms of management and how we were allowed to examine and make corrections, I am really pleased about that,” Broomes told GINA. The minister was also able to address the quality of food provided for workers and safety and protective gear.
Meanwhile, the Minister said her Ministry will be re-examining some of the policies as it relates to workers’ rights and benefits and how these are being implemented and executed by some companies since some companies have internal policies and procedures that are in breach of the law.
“I am charged with a mandate to ensure that there is maximum compliance. The President did caution me that he don’t want to hear one death and I hold the same position. One death is too many and accidents, we have to eliminate them. The fairness of worker wages, the hours they work and all of that will be examined,” Broomes asserted.
“When it comes to workers and their rights, there is no breathing space for correction, you have to correct immediately…if you have the workers working twelve hours and the law says eight hours you have to correct that immediately, if the law speaks to overtime, you have to apply that,” the Minister declared. The Minister advised workers in factories, especially those in the industrial sector to ensure that they wear protective gear at all times, as this is crucial to their work.
