Stadium workers stage sick-out

No work was done at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Grounds (SVRCG) yesterday as “most of the staff” reported that they could not turn up for duty. Conliffe Phillip, stadium manager, said that at approximately 6 a.m., almost all his staff communicated to him, via phone call or message, that they would not be reporting for work. “They didn’t come to work, the majority of them called in sick [yesterday] morning. Who didn’t call, sent text messages and WhatsApp message to tell me they were sick,” Phillip said.
Yesterday was the second day of no work for the 60-plus Ministry of Sports employees assigned to the stadium. The employees – administration staff, events coordinators and groundsmen – were initially sent home on Tuesday, after lawmen were called in to respond to a physical altercation between an employee and a female Barbudan evacuee staying at the SVRCG.
Phillip and the Barbudan woman, who admitted that there was a confrontation, said the incident became physical when the female employee refused to answer questions by the Barbudans about when the laundry room would be opened. Tensions flared as evacuees were repeatedly asked to leave because the stadium was contracted for several cricket games and the Barbudans are occupying the players’ changing rooms, physiotherapy room, coach’s locker rooms and anti-doping rooms.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)