3 000 going first

Article by RICKY JORDAN

AS SOON AS THE Christmas holidays end, over 3 000 workers will be cut from the public sector in a series of drastic measures to stabilize the Barbados economy and stave off devaluation of the local dollar.
The move, announced by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler in a ministerial statement to Parliament yesterday, should see the 3 000 layoffs from the general public service and statutory entities in the first quarter of the new year; specifically 2 000 on January 15 and 1 000 from March 1.
In his “black Friday” (December 13th) announcement in the pre-lunch sitting of the Lower House, Sinckler said a further 501 jobs would be cut from the sector over the next 16 months of Government’s 19-month adjustment programme, and over 2 000 more jobs would end without being replaced by way of attrition – retirement, resignation, leave or death – over the next five years.