Former Dunbars staff still appear to be in Nowhere Land, with PSA president saying they need to be productive

After being displaced from their worksite since December last year,
the former workers of the Dunbars Agricultural and Research
Station are still without a home – even after the Government said
they would be relocated to a site in Bethesda.
 
At the end of 2023, the Dunbars site was destroyed, ostensibly to
facilitate a housing development; and years of research, trees, in-
ground crops, and coconut palms were razed.
 
Joan Peters, president of the Antigua and Barbuda Public Service
Association (ABPSA), admits that she does not know what is
happening with the uprooted staff now.
 
She is unable to say whether they have been asked to sign in at a
particular location or they have been reassigned.
 
She knows, however, that the workers had been concerned about
productivity, since they had nothing meaningful to do, and the
designated site in Bethesda had not yet been completed.
 
According to her, this situation is unacceptable, as the workers did
not have to be moved; rather, another location for the planned
housing scheme could have been found.
 

Peters reports that the authorities had gone to the Christian Valley
area to source a building for housing the workers in the interim; but,
since then, she has heard nothing further about that.

The Association president says the authorities need to look at the
entire picture when making decisions, since it cannot always be
about investments, and workers have to be productive.
 

Workers being displaced, she says, does not do anyone any good.

That was Joan Peters, president of the Antigua and Barbuda
Public Service Association, speaking on the Good Morning Sass
show.