New direction for Barbuda Council after outstanding salaries and wages are paid off, Chairman Warner reports

The Barbuda Council has been able to make some inroads into its
backlog of wages and salaries owed to its workers.
  
Chairman of the Barbuda Council Devon Warner says that local
government is hoping to clear all its arrears as the Council works to
improve efficiency.
 
He notes that there are certain policies the Council wished to
implement; however, he acknowledges that it would not be fair to
make demands on the employees when they are not being paid on
time and are also owed.
 
According to Warner, officials want to take the Council and the
island in a particular direction in 2024, and the full cooperation of
the workers will be vital.

 
Accordingly, he is relieved that the Council is making progress on
bringing their wages and salaries current.

Chairman of the Barbuda Council Devon Warner.

For several years, Council workers were not being paid on time
since the monthly subsidy from Central Government was not being
remitted in a timely manner.

Added to that, the subsidy had been reduced significantly in a
unilateral move by the Executive in Antigua.
 
Hence, in the recent past,
workers had been owed for as many as 43 weeks while monthly
paid employees were owed for up to five months.

These persons included doctors and nurses at the Hanna Thomas
Hospital, whom MP Trevor Walker recently commended for not
withholding their services.

Recently, Finance Minister Gaston Browne promised to reinstate the
full subsidy due to Barbuda, and Walker has said the Council is
calling for the years’ shortfall to be made up, as well.