Business
Barbados: More job cuts in public sector coming
As the Stuart administration in Barbados struggles to reduce costs through financial structural adjustment programs, an Opposition Member of Parliament has revealed that another 100 public sector jobs may be faxing the axe.
According to Barbados Labor Party MP Edmund Hinckson, “the state-owned Port Authority plans to lay off 100 workers – 25 percent of the labor force.
Hinckson’s statement comes against a backdrop of the the island-nation’s Finance Minister, Chris Sinckler, announcing in December that administration will lay off some 3,000 public workers, beginning January as part of a program aimed at reducing current costs.
There are no official figures on the total number of workers the administration has sent home to date, but the figure is believed to be in excess of 2,000. A number of public sector entities have announced job cuts, many of which are being disputed by labor unions.
Last September, Barbados began a 19-month fiscal adjustment program to reduce operating costs, and one plank of that strategy has been a reduction in government payroll. -(CMC)