St Mary blitz workers unpaid since September

ISLINGTON, St Mary:

More than a week after residents of Islington in St Mary protested outside the Municipal Corporation building, demanding payment for work done during the Ministry of Health and Wellness' vaccination blitz in September, they have still not received any money.

However, Mayor of Port Maria Richard Creary told The Gleaner on Tuesday that the Ministry of Local Government will be making the funds available to the contract workers.

“The information has been forwarded to the Ministry of Local Government and the funds are to come from the ministry for them to be paid,” said Creary.

“It is just a process that took longer than it should have. It is with the ministry for them to sort out. The process is a little long as we have to send the information to the ministry for it to be verified and then they are supposed to send the payment. There seems to have been some delay in the ministry, but it's not that they are not going to be paid, it's just that it is taking longer than anyone would have expected,” he added.

Romean Doyle, a resident of Islington who acted as coordinator during the two days of the vaccination blitz, pointed out that it is a very frustrating period for them, as persons are in dire need of the money and they have not got anything definitive from the corporation as to when payment will be made.

“The Social Development Commission also contracted some residents to do cleaning-up of the site ahead of the vaccination blitz, and those persons have been paid,” Doyle argued.

“Approximately 15 persons who are owed between $4,000 and $12,000 have not been paid. Some of them are poverty-stricken and don't even know where there next meal is coming from. There is also the matter of a cookshop operator in Islington, who is owed something in the region of $92,000 for providing meals to healthcare workers and others during the vaccination blitz. Not even the councillor knows what is happening and he is under a lot of pressure,” she further argued.

And councillor for the area, Lincoln Dixon, described the situation as heart-rending. He said he was told that money was available for the blitz, which caused them to contract the services of persons to clean up a building that was needed for the vaccination exercise to take place.

“It was the CEO (chief executive officer) of the St Mary Municipal Corporation that had told me that there was that funding there for each councillor to mobilise and do the necessary for the blitz to happen,” said Dixon.

“We had to engage persons to do clean-up work at the premises where the blitz was to take place and it was a lot of work. So they were engaged over a one-day and two-day period. Up until now there is no definitive word as to when the people will be paid. I have been verbally abused by persons who have not been paid, and it is a very frustrating period for everyone,” he added.

gareth.davis@gleanerjm.com