The matter of the dismissed female employee of Kalibur Security that was at the core of the recent friction between that company and the Region Ten Regional Democratic Council (RDC) has been resolved with the employee’s reinstatement.
According to a RDC press release, the Region Ten Council recently met with the senior management of Kalibur Security where the dismissal along with other burning issues were discussed.
Prior to this conciliatory meeting, Region Ten had moved a motion to break ties with Kalibur Security over its alleged mistreatment of female guards.
At the recent meeting, the RDC was represented by its Regional Chairman, Renis Morian; Vice Chairman, Elroy Adolph; and Regional Councillors Charles Sampson and Tracy Johnson. Kalibur Security’s representatives were its Managing Director, George Gomes; National Operations Manager, Lennox Herbert and the company’s Region Ten Operations, Manager Lennox Higgins. Also in attendance were Labour Officer for Region Ten, Eleze Benjamin; Senior Personnel Officer at the RDC, Simone Johnson; officials of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) in Region Ten and Political Assistant within the Ministry of the Presidency, Rondell Backer.
The almost two-hour long meeting was held in the boardroom of the RDC’s offices with Backer performing the role of mediator.
The Regional Chairman dubbed the meeting a success, noting that a number of issues were amicably addressed with both sides coming to a mutually-agreed upon settlement. He disclosed that one of the items agreed upon was the holding of quarterly meetings with the Regional Administration geared at ensuring that issues are addressed in a timely and professional manner. He urged the security company’s Managing Director to closely monitor his operations in Region Ten, emphasising that as the Regional Chairman, his primary focus remains on the workers. “I am urging Kalibur Security to closely monitor their guards as we do not want a repeat of several of the issues that resulted in us having this meeting today.” He also declared, “In negotiating the contract with the RDC there are some expectations that we would be looking for and would like to stress that we would be closely monitoring the operations here as ultimately the people of Region Ten cannot and will not be taken advantage of in any way.”
The two sides issued a joint statement which assures that the security guards would be able work in an environment that is safe, secure and free from unprofessional conduct and attention would be paid to all matters pertaining to the well-being of the Kalibur staff.
Managing Director of Kalibur Security, George Gomes, expressed his apologies to the Regional Administration, and promised a more robust monitoring system to ensure that supervisors are doing what they are supposed to do. He stressed that his company does not have a discrimination policy and dismissed views that female employees were being exploited. “We are seeking to ensure that our women can earn and earn fairly so I would like to state that we at Kalibur don’t discriminate and I would like to assure all that we will be closely monitoring our employees including managers and supervisors so that they can deliver what we expect of then,” he declared.
With regard to the dismissal of the female employee, Morian assured that the woman’s concerns and issues were addressed in detail and he is pleased that it has all been resolved. The employee, Deborah Barlow, whose dismissal resulted in the RDC seeking to take action against Kalibur, was reinstated with Gomes promising that she will not suffer any loss in wages and benefits and will be posted back to her original position. “I am happy to say that Ms Barlow who was dismissed by us will be reinstated immediately and will not suffer any loss in wages and or benefits, I would also like to extend apologies to her for any inconvenience that she would have endured.”
He stressed that with some 70 per cent of his security workforce in Region Ten being women, it’s an indication of the fact that the company genuinely values women, thus the reason for the high number of women working with them. He admitted that there were some issues which he observed could have been dealt in a different manner by his team in Region Ten but declared that with an enhanced monitoring system this will certainly change. “We have established a system with the RDC whereby concerns and issues can be addressed to the RDC and for those who are not satisfied with the results they can then have their matters dealt with by the Labour department,” he said.
Gomes confirmed that all issues were satisfactorily addressed and thanked the Regional Chairman and the RDC for meeting with him and his team. He also expressed apologies to the 300 Kalibur employees in Region Ten, declaring that his company is continuously looking for ways and means to enhance the quality and level of service that they offer. He iterated that workers within Kalibur can rest assured that a better relationship with them and his managers would be strengthened, as he seeks to ensure that any concerns and challenges that they are faced with would be addressed.
“We had a very fruitful meeting earlier today [Tuesday] with the RDC representatives and I can say that the discussions were somewhat detailed. We came to very good decisions and I am about to say that we were able to resolve all the issues that caused the recent set of problems and we are going to move forward with good anticipation,” the Managing Director was quoted as saying. He assured that there will be a high level of cooperation between the RDC and Kalibur Security, adding that those working with the company would be proud of the company. “We value each worker that we have in each part of this country and we are equally moving in the same direction. We intend to execute our security mandate with great professionalism,” he declared.
The Regional Chairman Morian endorsed the monitoring systems and expressed his satisfaction with their implementation, noting that at all times workers’ interests and welfare should be a top priority. He said that all Labour-related laws and regulations should be followed as gone are the days when workers were dismissed willy-nilly without fair hearing and or due process. “Our country have made significant strides within the Labour Ministry and as such, we cannot allow all of those strides and gains to be wasted so I am appealing to all concerned to ensure that we can continue the progress that the Ministry of Labour have been able to make,” he added.
