By Robert A. Emmanuel
Workers at the General Post Office will remain off the job for an indefinite period as talks with the government broke down yesterday.
The post office staff have been staging industrial action for several weeks as they protest issues surrounding the declining conditions at the various facilities across the island, particularly at the main office in St John’s.
Yesterday, after government negotiators and union representatives met to discuss the path forward where President of the Antigua and Barbuda Public Services Association (ABPSA) Joan Peters told Observer media that the workers were not protesting but were rather removing themselves for health and safety reasons.
“They have removed themselves because the work environment just isn’t conducive for work, and these are the kinds of things we are talking about.
“It isn’t that they don’t want to produce, it isn’t that they don’t want to work, but the environment doesn’t call for it,” Peters said.
The workers are being represented by the Antigua Trades and Labour Union (AT&LU) and the ABPSA. Peters added that at a meeting last week with the Prime Minister, Public Works Department, the two unions and the management of the post office, a number of agreements were arrived at.
“Once those agreements were met, they [the post office staff] would be able to go back to work today, but 90 percent of the things we asked for was not done.
“So, when we [went] down there today, we could not encourage the workers to go into the building as it is as stink as can be,” she said.
Workers at the main post office have been complaining over the condition of their workspace as mould and other health complications related to the facility have been reported over the years.
This follows a trend of government facilities across the island that have faced similar challenges with mould and other issues.