Jack vists works sub-offices, promises to fix problems identified by workers

Employees of the Works and Transport department confronted their minister Jack Warner Friday with complaints about the unacceptable conditions under which they work.

Complaints ranged from the lack of toilets to the unavailability of change rooms as Warner and his junior minister Stacy Roopnarine visited several sub-offices of his ministry Friday.

Warner's visits were prompted by a meeting he had on Wednesday with the president of the National Union of Government & Federated Workers (NUGFW).

James Lambert told Warner about the poor working conditions at the offices and Warner promised to look into it. On Friday he kept the promise and visited the offices along with a high level team from his ministry. Lambert accompanied the team.

Warner agreed that workers cannot be productive if conditions are below standards. And he urged everyone to "keep the faith". The Minister pledged to "correct the wrongs".
Cheryl Blackman, Permanent secretary in Warner's ministry said the Facilities Department is doing an audit of what is required. She promised that the department would determine the time to deal with correcting the problems.

The minister promised to monitor what is going on and said he would visit other offices in the country to get a first hand look at conditions under which people work.