By Carlena Knight
The protest action being staged by an employee of the Antigua and Barbuda Broadcasting Service (ABS) continued into a third day, yesterday.
Unlike the previous action which saw a number of workers gather outside the Cecil Charles building petitioning for change in management, overtime pay and better treatment for staff, this picket involves one man, Eustace Samuel, who continues to call for change within the state-owned entity.
Samuel, who has worked at ABS for the past four years, began his protest on Monday outside the Cross Street premises with a placard stating: “Who can help ABS when one minister say ‘Them lazy and stealing time’, and the other minister say ‘give the rum and party so they forget everything.’ School children say the new local station is 99.1 fm. Somebody help!!!”
He shared his frustration with OBSERVER media.
“I am fed up and there are a lot of things that I see that I know that is wrong that nobody tends to want to look at and when you have a conversation with management, it’s always a misunderstanding.”
Samuel added he had no other alternative than to take actions into his own hands after management continues to “sugar coat” various issues.
“If you work for an establishment, you should not have stand outside to be noticed. You have everybody inside, you call, you speak, you write and when everything falls on deaf ears you have to do what you got to do,” he said.
“I use to work with other establishments and had bigger issues than this with them and I never picketed because at the end of the day they do a little to accommodate, not to please, to accommodate some of the situation. But when you come in an establishment where there are no compromises, you have a problem.”
Despite the mention of another local station, Samuel sought to clear the air that his gripe is not with them but it’s with his employers at ABS.
“That is not my issue as to the radio station. I have issues with the management style of the company that I work for. Everything is just being overlooked by who’s in charge and I find that it is time that somebody does something about what’s going on and stop sugar coating things to look good,” he said.
