Resign Now Union Official Tells Port Managers

Antigua Observer

 

The general secretary of the Antigua Barbuda Workers Union is demanding the immediate resignation of the entire Antigua Port Authority management since, he said, they have failed to adequately address the problems plaguing the port.

Senator David Massiah, speaking at a press conference yesterday, called on the Board of Directors and port managers to do the honourable thing and resign from their posts, thereby sparing Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer the task of sacking them himself.

“I think the time has come and they should save the prime minister the pain of (firing them),” he said. “The management and the board should do the honourable thing and resign because they have failed miserably in stemming the problems at the port.”

Massiah said that for too long management has blamed overstaffing (for the problem); however, he noted that the union is displeased with how management is handling the problems the port is experiencing.

“We have presented positions that we think are possible for us in seeking to reduce the problems that the port has. The cognition is there and we realise that there are problems, but (we are not satisfied with) the way that the port’s board and management are seeking to reduce the situation,” Massiah explained.

He said the port is fully aware of the issues, and the union feels that the present management is incapable of addressing the workers’ plight and the lack of initiative to keep the country’s main seaport running and generating revenue.