A high-level government team led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley descended on a construction site yesterday, discovering 68 migrant workers living in deplorable, inhumane conditions – and promptly gave the company just hours to clear them out.
The DAILY NATION understands the dramatic intervention came after the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) blew the whistle on the unlicensed barracks during a Social Partnership meeting at Ilaro Court involving the construction sector, trade unions and officials from the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Home Affairs.
The meeting was abruptly paused.
Mottley, Minister of Labour Colin Jordan, BWU general secretary Toni Moore and public health officials visited two sites associated with the construction firm. What they found sparked immediate outrage.
Without a barrack licence to legally house the 68 Colombian and Indian labourers, the company was issued an ultimatum to relocate the men by last night.
Jordan confirmed the situation to the Daily Nation yesterday evening. While not revealing the name of the construction company, he issued a detailed statement on the matter, pointing out that investigations were ongoing.
“The Ministry of Labour, Social Security and the Third Sector confirms that concerns relating to the welfare and accommodation of migrant workers engaged by a construction firm were brought to the attention of Government and social partners by the general secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union during a tripartite construction sector meeting chaired earlier today by [the] Prime Minister.”
Following the on-site shock, ministry officials, union representatives and the construction firm’s management were hauled into a meeting chaired by Jordan. (MB)
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