STRIKING STAFF RETURN TO WORK BUT GIVE MSJMC 48 HOURS TO MAKE PROMISED PAYMENTS

Meanwhile…

Hospital workers are back on the job after they were convinced to return by the head of their union.

The workers staged protest action this morning, April 19, over a number of issues, including risk allowance.

Joan Peters, President of the Antigua and Barbuda Public Service Association (ABPSA), tells REAL News the strike lasted for three hours.

Peters says she was asked to persuade the workers to return to their posts as efforts were being made to secure the funds.

She says the staff agreed and have given hospital officials 48 hours in which to make the necessary payments.

However, management was advised that if monies are not received by 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 21, workers will resume their industrial action.

Accordingly, REAL News learned that management of the medical facility was locked in a high-powered meeting, today, with officials from the Ministry of Finance.  

Meanwhile, Peters says the union had no prior notice of the action that was taken by the hospital staff.  Despite this, she says she is in support of her membership.

Peters says the staff will not be pushed around this time and they are ready to return to the picket line.