Things literally are falling apart at Ministry of Agriculture headquarters, sending workers back to the picket line 

Ministry of Agriculture workers were back on the protest line on
Friday, March 15, since they remain in a dilapidated, unhealthy
working environment after the Browne Administration broke its
promise to relocate them.
 
The placard-bearing workers are disgruntled that no one appears to
be taking their plight seriously.
 
REAL News correspondent George Wehner visited the scene, where
the workers held placards that read: “Safety First;” “Major Ceiling
Repairs Needed-Permanent Secretary Fault;” “Poor Working
Conditions;” “My Health Matters;” and “Our Health and Safety Come
First – We Need Action now.”
 
The workers took industrial action late last year, and promises were
made to move them to the former NTTC Building on Nugent Avenue,

which had been refurbished during the COVID-19 pandemic to serve
as a satellite hospital.

This move should have been effected since early December 2023,
but did not take place.

Then another promise was given to have the staff relocated by
February 14 this year (2024).

However, they remain at the same Independence Drive
headquarters, working in uncomfortable and unsuitable conditions
– and out of boxes that had been packed in anticipation of moving,
says Janella Evanson, the general secretary of the Public Service
Association.

Evanson says that meetings are held every two weeks with Minister
of Agriculture E.P. Chet Greene and Permanent Secretary Colin
O’Keiffe. But all the staff is hearing from them are promises and
requests for additional time to sort the issue out, she says.  
 
The other stations that fall under the Ministry of Agriculture will
join the protest action next week, Evanson says, as they, too, are
enduring poor working conditions – even worse than colleagues at
headquarters are experiencing.

Joan Peters, president of the ABPSA, was on site, as well, standing in
solidarity with the disgruntled employees.
 
Peters says the workplace is in shambles, and the building is falling
apart, with pieces of the ceiling falling onto the workers.
Additionally, there is the lack of proper bathroom facilities for the
mostly female staff, Peters says.

 
Peters says there is no issue that does not impact the Ministry of
Agriculture workers. “You name it,” she says, “the building has it,”
with even termites falling on the employees.

That was Joan Peters, the president of the Antigua and Barbuda
Public Service Association (ABPSA)