Public Works employees promised bulk of owed overtime pay by today 

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Shop steward at the Bendals Quarry Keithroy Merchant
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By Shermain Bique-Charles

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Today is the day that Public Works employees will know for sure whether the government has made good on its promise to settle the bulk of their outstanding overtime payments.

These disgruntled workers will also, on the advice of their union, decide whether they will take to the streets again to demand their money.

Last week, the government promised workers at the Bendals and Burma quarries, truck drivers and those employed at the hot mix plant that their outstanding payments — dating back several years – would be settled by April 13.

Scores of workers are said to collectively be owed in excess of EC$2 million. For two consecutive days last week, they demonstrated outside the Prime Minister’s Office and the Public Works Department.

The decision to protest stemmed from an eight-month deadline to make payments, which they said the government had missed.

“We received some of the monies that we were owed. Not [everyone was] given money but they promised that everyone will be paid by Wednesday,” Shop Steward of the Bendals Quarry Keithroy Merchant told Observer.

“We just decided to go back to work because they claimed they will pay. We decided to give them a break and return to work. We had meetings yesterday [and] they gave us clarity that everything is on track,” he added.

The largest chunk of the outstanding monies is owed to the quarry workers, along with one truck driver who is said to be owed a whopping $300,000 in overtime pay.

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