Agriculture workers give ministry two weeks to improve work conditions

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Workers at the Veterinary and Livestock Division have agreed to give the Ministry of Agriculture two weeks to address longstanding concerns that influenced them to stop working at the Friars Hill office yesterday.
Fifteen of the 16 employees walked off their jobs and took their concerns straight to the ministry’s head office on Independence Drive. A major concern was that the pathway that leads to the room in which livestock and domestic animals are examined, floods whenever there is rainfall.
The division is tasked with examining and issuing licenses for importing and exporting the meat from domestic animals and livestock. The workers also carry out inspections on local farms for diseases.
According to them, it has been too long since they have been “working in a rat and termite infested building” with no running water, damaged toilet and a huge hole in the wooden floor.
Employees who requested anonymity, told OBSERVER media that it has been over three years since they are crying out for help, but their issues have fallen on deaf ears.
“We have to cart water because there is no toilet tank and women have been pregnant and had to carry water to flush the bathroom. We understand water comes at night but no one is there to catch it. The building was treated for termites but they are coming back, and we have rat droppings. It rains inside the building when rain come,” one worker said.
The workers also complained that their salaries have generally remained unchanged since 2008.
 
(More in today’s Daily Observer)

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