Heather Goldson

Scotiabank is extending its relationship with cricket by becoming an Official Partner for the first season of the 2013 Limacol Caribbean Premier League (LCPL). The sponsorship is part of the Bank’s commitment to supporting cricket across the region.

“We are excited about becoming the official bank of the LCPL and contributing to the growth of a sport that celebrates Caribbean heritage,” said Heather Goldson, Scotiabank’s Marketing Director for the English Caribbean.

“Scotiabank has had a presence in the Caribbean for more than 125 years and with Scotiabank Kiddy Cricket we have been committed to youth cricket for 14 years. This year, we are taking the game to the next level by sponsoring the LCPL T20 Tournament.”

The tournament begins on 30 July and ends on 24 August. Twenty-four matches will be played across six franchise countries – Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago – and will feature top Caribbean and international players.

“Scotiabank has long been synonymous with the development of cricket in the Caribbean,” says Jamie Stewart, Commercial Director and Consultant to the Limacol CPLT20. “The LCPL aims to spark a renewal and renaissance of cricket in the region, and in that sense Scotiabank is the obvious partner.  We hope to work together to build out LCPL community initiatives and we thank Scotiabank for supporting this landmark venture.”

In July, Scotiabank, through its Bright Future program, signed a historic five-year contract with the West Indies Cricket Board extending its exclusive sponsorship of the Kiddy Cricket programme.

Scotiabank and the WICB are working together to provide more than 150,000 youth in 15 territories with education and training to improve their cricket skills. This year, the investment is providing 20 new positions for coaches to assist students and Physical Education teachers.

The Management of Windward Leeward Brewery Limited (WLBL) and the National Workers Union (NWU) have successfully concluded discussions on all outstanding issues that previously led to a four day work stoppage by employees of the company.

The agreement is that:

The NWU has formally accepted the Company’s decision to make two of its employees redundant. Both parties regret the manner in which the matter was handled and vowed not to go that route in future.

The redundant employees will receive Enhanced Compensation Packages negotiated on their behalf and accepted by them, the amounts of which will be paid next week.

The children of the redundant employees will be allowed to continue to benefit from the Text Book Programme for a period of one year.

The two employees concerned will continue to receive beverages for another four  months.

WLBL will provide commendable recommendations for both of the redundant employees.

The LIME and Mitel teams

Businesses are always looking for ways to get better networks, to get more out of their existing communications solutions, to make various locations work together better and to converge office and mobile solutions.

With a recent activity staged with one its major partners at Cotton Bay Resort this week, LIME hopes to have ticked all of those boxes.

Saint Lucia’s and the Caribbean’s leading telecommunications service provider hosted several dozen members of the Corporate, Small & Medium Enterprise (SME), Enterprise and Government sectors at a breakfast seminar on Thursday, in collaboration with technology partner, Mitel.

The Canada-based high-technology company is a global provider of communications and collaboration software and has enjoyed a decades-long relationship with LIME.

The Mitel team – led by Caribbean Senior Sales Manager, Angela Cruz – also included Pre-Sales Engineer, Dean Hines and Warren Dubose, Director of Sales Engineering for the US & Caribbean.

The team presented solutions including MiStory, MiVoice Office and MiCloud. The presentations focused not just your run-of-the-mill PBX phone systems, but also on the industry shift to virtualised and cloud-based unified communications and collaboration applications.

Ian Henry, LIME Sales Manager for Corporate & Government, says the timing of this initiative was opportune. “We recently launched our 4G mobile network,” he explains, “and this has opened up a whole new world of possibilities as to what LIME customers can do in terms of synchronizing their mobile devices with their offices.

Doctors can get X-rays sent to their handsets in real-time, customers can call one number and you can choose to take it in office or on the road. These are just some of the new realities that Mitel solutions and LIME 4G bring to bear.”

“From a Mitel perspective, we are really pleased with today’s activity,” says Angela. “We have some great customers in Saint Lucia, and LIME has been an excellent partner for a long time. It was a real pleasure to be able to demonstrate to them how we can achieve a much greater synergy and enable far greater productivity as well as substantial cost savings for the end user. We provide scalable and flexible solutions on a single, cloud-ready software stream built to order for organisations with different business requirements, of varying size, and deployment models, so it was great to have so many different sectors represented. The feedback from existing and potential customers was excellent.”

The partnership between Saint Lucia’s fastest network, LIME, and Mitel, which in turn is partnered with virtual giant VMware, means that the most modern, state-of-the-art communications & collaboration options are available to companies in Saint Lucia.

Security, disaster recovery, flexibility and powerful communications resources come together to offer an impressive package that can be designed to work with any network, infrastructure or platform.

Derek Walcott *http://arcthemagazine.com/

LIME and 1st National Bank are teaming up to provide support to the 2013 ACLALS Conference, and the staging of the Caribbean premiere of Derek Walcott’s newest play, ‘O Starry Starry Night’.

Both events are scheduled be held in Saint Lucia from August 5-9.  The Caribbean’s leading Telecommunications Company is a co-presenting sponsor of the conference which is being hosted by the Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS), Landmark Events and Warwick Productions.

It is expected to attract over 350 delegates from the world of academia and related fields such as publishing, printing, and research. LIME is providing financial and telecommunications support to facilitate the successful staging of the event.

Saint Lucia has been chosen from a wide field of possible host countries for the staging of Derek Walcott’s latest play because of its experience in hosting such events, and because it is Walcott’s home country.

O Starry Starry Night is a highly poetic rendition of one of the most significant and notorious moments in the history of art: Paul Gauguin’s visit to a troubled Vincent van Gogh at the Yellow House in Arles, France, in 1888. It will feature several high profile actors from Trinidad, including Wendell Manwarren, Brian Greene and Nigel Scott, all of whom have longstanding professional relationships with Walcott and his work.

Walcott’s poetry and plays have been influenced by visual art throughout his long career. He himself is an able watercolourist.

ACLALS Conference producer and CEO of Landmarks Events, Adrian Augier said: “We’re proud of the high-profile brands that we have onboard, sponsoring the conference and the staging of Mr Walcott’s latest play. We are deeply grateful to LIME’s sponsorship and for their commitment to supporting innovation in theatre with a view to exploring new and exciting ways to engage audiences and foster greater appreciation for the arts.”

LIME Saint Lucia General Manager, Chris Williams, said: “This is a great partnership with organizations that represent the same commitment to quality and excellence that LIME espouses. As a longstanding supporter of Saint Lucian art and culture, we look forward to helping create the wonderful experiences that the conference and Mr Walcott’s production bring to this community as a vital part of our rich cultural environment.”

The National Workers Union (NWU) has accused the Ministry of Labour of hindering its industrial relations by failing to respond to recognition claims it submitted to it in May and June 2013.

The NWU took this grievance to the Minister of Labour Lewis in a letter dated July 26, 2013.

According to the letter, the first of two claims was filed on May 3, 2013 and relates to the Renwick and Company firm, the other on June 11, 2013 involves non-managerial staff of the Alternative Security Service Limited. The NWU said neither has been resolved.

With regards to the May 3 Renwick and Co. claim, the union said, “We are now at the end of July 2013 with the matter still unresolved. We have had two general meetings with the staff employed with the company explaining our position in this matter. At both meetings workers expressed their total disgust and requested that the NWU bring this matter to your attention.”

The NWU also informed that it expects to provide an update on the Alternative Security Service Ltd claim at a meeting with staff on August 2, 2013.

“Sir, this laid back approach cannot be in sync with Prime Minister Kenny D. Anthony’s call for a more acceptable level of productivity in the country. Workers are beginning to lose confidence in the Ministry of Labour which honestly may be due to no fault of yours,” the union said to the minister in its letter.

Joana James

Author Joana James, a native and resident of Saint Lucia, has released her latest clean romance novel, Romeo’s Redemption.

This is Joana’s fourth fiction title and her seventh book overall.

Joana published her first book, Alana & Alyssa’s Secret in August 2011 using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Since then she has not looked back, publishing a Christian Devotional series alongside her fiction titles.

As a teenager, Joana enjoyed writing poems dreamed that one day she would become a published poet. As the years went by, Joana’s interest shifted to writing short stories and eventually, full length novels.

This latest book, Romeo’s Redemption, is set in beautiful Saint Lucia with characters that are truly Saint Lucian. Readers will find themselves transported to the island’s gorgeous beaches and world class hotels as they become fully engrossed in the story. This is the second book written by Joana that showcases the natural beauty of her island home.

Romeo’s Redemption goes on sale on August 1, 2013 on Amazon.com for the introductory price of only USD $0.99 for the kindle format. The book is available at that price for one day only. Saint Lucians with computers and tablets can download the kindle app for free and gain access to this book and many other titles at greatly reduced prices. The Paperback edition is also available online at a cost of USD $9.49.

Book Description

Sandy is haunted by dreams from her past, a past she’d rather forget. However, with each passing moment, they only get worse. Her inability to sleep causes chaos in her professional life and the time comes to deal with the skeletons in her closet once and for all. Sandy’s journey not only takes her to places she’d rather stay away from, but it leads her to love that she thought was lost forever.

Romeo’s Redemption is witty with surprising twists, characters that are easy to love and a story that goes beyond the usual clichés. This is a story of love lost and regained with an interesting journey in between.

Romeo’s Redemption may be purchased on Amazon.com using this link. http://amzn.to/12jrwuC

Paperback copies of the book may be ordered directly from Joana via email address info@inspiredcreativity.org

Workers employed island-wide with the management of National Insurance Corporation at Vieux Fort, Soufriere, Rodney and Castries have voted unanimously, authorizing the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) to hand over all requested documents to the National Workers Union (NWU).

This decision was made at a general meeting of the workers on Monday, July 29, 2013.

The documents in question relate to:
Employees length of service
Employees current monthly salary
Employees qualifications

The NWU, in a spirit of cooperation, invited management officials from the National Insurance Corporation to attend the meeting to witness the proceedings. The invitation was accepted; 15 minutes before the commencement of the said meeting a management official indicated his inability to attend the meeting.

The letter, dated July 30, 2013, conveying the workers position was delivered to the company early on that date.

Chris Williams, LIME Saint Lucia General Manager

LIME TV is bringing live cricket coverage of the inaugural Limacol Caribbean Premier League (LCPL) T20 Tournament to homes and business places across Saint Lucia to ensure that cricket fans don’t miss out on the Caribbean’s hottest cricket event.

This is great news For LIME TV customers, as Saint Lucia’s leading cable TV network will be beaming uninterrupted ball-by-ball play from start to finish, all throughout the tournament via LIME Exclusive channel 87.

“Our goal is to ensure that LIME TV customers stay connected to their favourite sports programs, especially live broadcasts of world-class tournaments like the Limacol Caribbean Premier League,” said Chris Williams, LIME Saint Lucia General Manager. “This is vital for cricket fans who don’t have the good fortune to be at the matches in person. We are going to ensure that they don’t miss out on the LCPL experience and all the great action and excitement that we have come to expect from West Indies cricket,” Chris added.

LIME TV provides the widest selection of local and international sports programming in Saint Lucia, compared to any other local cable TV network, and offers exclusive access to many of the world’s leading football, cricket and basketball tournaments, as well as the Olympic Games and other premier events.

The Limacol Caribbean Premier League got underway with flair, energy and colour on Tuesday, July 30 in Barbados with the first match between the Barbados Tridents and Saint Lucia Zouks. Barbados registered the LCPL’s first win.

Saturday’s match between Barbados Tridents and Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel is scheduled for 8pm at Kensington Oval, Barbados. On Sunday, the Zouks are back in action from 8pm against Guyana’s Amazon Warriors. All the matches will be carried live and uninterrupted on LIME TV 87. Most matches start at 8pm.

Comfort Bay administrator Charmaine Hippolyte with LIME Vieux Fort retail manager Vernette Edward, Corp Comm Executive Terry Finisterre and Corporate Account Manager Andrea Hinds

Comfort Bay Senior Citizens’ Home can now provide more comfort to its residents and staff thanks to another donation from LIME.

The Home, located in Black Bay, Laborie, was the recipient of a US $1000 donation from the telecommunications giant in collaboration with the Caribbean Cable TV Association. The cheque presentation was made during a small ceremony held at the home last week.

This was the second time in less than a year that LIME contributed to the residents and staff of the home. Last December, LIME donated two large-screen televisions to Comfort Bay and installed the full LIME TV basic pack with over 100 channels. The service is free to the home, a courtesy extended to several such charities.

LIME Corporate Communications Executive Terry Finisterre says the company is extremely proud to be able to stay on top of its partnerships especially with institutions that provide such a noble service to society.

“When you are able to have a positive impact on your society, you jump at that opportunity,” he says. “And when you see that you are contributing to something that is worthwhile and something that is working, it encourages you to keep giving. We are LIME are pleased to be part of the ongoing work being done here.”

Comfort Bay administrator Charmaine Hippolyte believes the residents and staff will benefit greatly from the monetary gift, and expressed her deepest gratitude to LIME for what she considers to be gestures of kindness. “We are pleased that LIME has seen fit to revisit our home and it is true that the work never stops. We are always in need of assistance and grateful for the support from the public and corporate sector. For our part, we will keep working to take the best possible care of our residents and to always remain grateful.”

In recent years, LIME has supported various homes for the elderly including the Marian Home, St. Lucy’s Home, Adelaide & Frances Memorial Home and Villa St. Joseph, among others. The Comfort Bay Senior Citizens’ Home was opened on October 30th, 2011 by Her Excellency Dame Pearlette Louisy, Governor General of Saint Lucia.

Chemical Manufacturing & Investment Company Ltd (CHEMICO) will introduce the softer side to St. Lucia as the Company teams up with the Husky Brand to demonstrate a revolutionary concept in cleaning.

For nearly fifty years, Canberra Corporation has been a leading manufacturer of cleaning chemicals for the commercial, institutional and industrial markets.

Mr. Thomas Roserie, managing Director of CHEMICO, is extremely eager share this concept which will address the issues of waste disposal, storage and effects on the environment.

Just Add Water System (JAWS) will be introduced on Wednesday August 7th 2013, at 10:00 a.m. at the Bay Gardens Hotel Bouganvillia Conference Room, where industry representatives will have an opportunity meet with the experts to experience the revolution in cleaning. Expected to attend are reps from Manufacturing, Health, Culinary and Tourism sectors.

Interested person are invited to register via email address info@chemicoslu.com or chemicomarketing@gmail.com or tel: 454 3000/454 3917.

A meeting between Acting Labour Commissioner George Melchoir and President General and Secretary General of the National Workers Union (NWU), Tyrone Maynard and George Goddard Jr. conveyed full assurance that the recognition matter between Renwick & Co. Ltd and the NWU will be resolved shortly.

Mark Maraj, the company’s lawyer, has indicated willingness to have this matter resolved.

A date and venue will soon be agreed upon for holding the secret ballot.

This secret ballot poll among the Renwick & Company employees, when held, will bring an end to a long drawn out recognition matter.

The Landings

Local five-star resort the Landings, St Lucia is reporting success after less than a year under new management.

According to a release, the resort attracted a record number of visitors since the new team was installed on December 1, 2012.

St Lucian-born Executive Director Oliver Gobat heads the new team with Lyle Pauls as General Manager. They, along with the rest of management are said to be bringing “together a wealth of Caribbean and international five-star experience, both operationally and in marketing.”

Situated on Pigeon Island Causeway, the Landings has undertaken infrastructural and landscaping improvements as part of investments to improve the functionality of the facility this year, the release said.

Not to be confused with the development company Landing Limited, which is currently under receivership, the Landings boasts of being a “luxuriously appointed all-suite resort, complete with state of the art spa and gym, tennis courts, pools, restaurants and bars, private marina and of course the best beach on the island.”

“The improved operations of the Landings can only help the destination as St Lucia can boast another busy world class resort, and fill the much needed flights that come to the island,” the release stated.

“ Of course, no resort can succeed without the tremendous hospitality and skills of its staff, and the Landings is proud of all its staff members who have done so well in looking after the new and improved product, as well as the many guests who have enjoyed their stay with us,” it further stated.

Display of ORS-Curls Unleashed products.

Coconut Bay Beach Resort and Spa continues its programme of collaboration with the local private sector with the recent hosting of a major National Hair Show in partnership with local distributor Atwell Dalgliesh Co. Ltd at the hotel.

The hair show entitled ‘ORS Curls Unleashed Meet Up’ was organized with the objective of educating hair stylists and consumers about natural hair care and the techniques of maintaining their own hair and that of their children at home.

The show, which took place on Sunday, July 28, 2013, was a national event and saw the attendance of about 200 hair stylists and consumers from across the island. The event featured lectures and demonstrations utilizing ORS-Curls Unleashed, a natural product manufactured by Namaste Laboratories of the United States.

The event was conducted by three resource persons from the US, namely: Vanessa Brown – regional sales representative (Texas), Christine Kendrick – education consultant (Baltimore) and Donita Nurse, education consultant (Chicago).

The Hair Show was very successful in fulfilling its objective and participants were able to gain in-depth knowledge in use of the product. The local hair stylists and consumers expressed their positive impressions with the effectiveness of the product and their confidence in maximizing the benefits of the product through its proper use.

Coconut Bay Beach Resort & Spa was excited and pleased in partnering with Atwell Dalgliesh Co Ltd who are the local distributors for ORS-Curls Unleashed. We are proud of our continuing and growing partnership with the St Lucian private sector and local community.

Digicel’s Marketing Manager Kerchelle Jn Charles *http://news.stluciastar.com/

As more matches are played and the excitement bubbles over in the red hot Limacol Caribbean Premiere League (CPL) Twenty/20 Cricket tournament, the region’s leading telecommunications provider Digicel in collaboration with the St. Lucia Zouks Franchise, is making it even more extraordinary with the launch of the ‘Bring your Best Friend for Free’ promotion.

The ‘Bring your Best Friend for Free’ promotion from Digicel and the St Lucia Zouks Franchise is designed to benefit one thousand cricket loving fans.

The first 1000 cricket fans who buy a ticket today at select outlets will get a free ticket to bring their best friend to Tuesday’s match where St Lucia Zouks take on Antigua Hawkbills. The extraordinary ticket offer is only available today, Monday, August 3 at the following select stores, Digicel Bridge Street and Digicel Vieux Fort.

In announcing the deal, Marketing Manager for Digicel St. Lucia, Kerchelle Jn. Charles said “Digicel is delighted to be bringing this extraordinary promotion to cricket loving fans in St Lucia. We wanted to do something special for cricket fans – 1000 lucky fans will now be able to bring their best friend to the ‘Biggest Party in Sport’ on Tuesday evening as the St Lucia Zouks take on the Antigua Hawkbills. With the Limacol CPL competition heating up this match is going to be an exciting encounter – both teams will want to win.”

Digicel is leading the charge in creating a party atmosphere of pure fun when the matches bowl off at BCG tomorrow evening. Along with the exciting cricket, persons in attendance will witness performances from  Triple Crown Holder and reigning Power, Groovy and Road March Monarch, Ricky T, DJ HP, DYP Band, and of course from Sir Lancelot with his ‘Zouks on Fire’ hit.

Kerchelle Jn Charles added “Digicel looks forward to a packed Beausejour Cricket Ground as St. Lucians demonstrate to the world their extraordinary passion for the game of cricket and their love and support for the St. Lucia Zouks.”

As the much anticipated local round of matches of the exciting Limacol Caribbean Premiere League (CPL) T20 Cricket tournament gets ready to bowl off on Simply Beautiful St. Lucia, thousands of eager cricket fans armed with tickets in hand, are expected to pack the Beausejour Cricket Grounds (BCG).

That’s due to the latest extraordinary effort on the part of an Official Partner of the Limacol CPLT20 tournament, Digicel.

Demonstrating its commitment to the Limacol CPL, dozens of Digicel employees participated in a fun filled roadshow that not only educated fans about the CPL, the local franchise team the St. Lucia Zouks, the players and schedule of matches but also provided easier access for cricket lovers to get tickets to the matches.

West Indies Test Captain Darren Sammy on Tuesday, August 6, in front of an expected massive home crowd, will attempt to lead the St. Lucia Zouks to victory against the Antigua Hawksbills after a great victory on Sunday night against the Guyana Amazon Warriors.

The Digicel roadshow began in the east coast village of Dennery and ended in the southern town of Vieux Fort, visiting several communities across the island along the way. Accompanying the roadshow Digicel’s Marketing Manager Kerchelle Jn Charles said “given the excitement generated by the Limacol CPLT20 tournament thus far and coupled with the passion of St. Lucians for the game of cricket, it was only logical for us at Digicel to make it hassle free for cricket lovers to avail themselves of tickets to the matches.”

According to Kerchelle, even though tickets to the matches can be purchased at the BCG, from Digicel stores at Baywalk, Soufriere, Jeremie Street, Chisel Street, Vieux Fort, and Bridge Street and at all Courts locations island wide, we wanted to ensure that those persons in rural communities were able to avail of tickets for the matches without having to travel into the main towns to ensure they could come to the BCG to support their local franchise team and be a part of the ‘Biggest Party in Sport’.

“The demand for tickets which have been competitively priced at $25 adults and $10 for children has been overwhelming, – the feedback from our customers on this initiative has been great, they really appreciate Digicel going on the road selling tickets into their communities.”

Large crowds are again expected to come out and support of the St. Lucia Zouks for the other two matches. The St. Lucia Zouks will play a critical rematch against the Barbados Tridents on August 8 and will again take to the field in front of the home crowd for the final time on August 10 against and Jamaica Tallawahs.

All matches will start from 8pm and will be played at the BCG. Kerchelle ends “Digicel looks forward to a packed BCG as St. Lucians demonstrate to the world their extraordinary passion for the game of cricket and their support for the St. Lucia Zouks.”

The Ministry of Public Service has promised that back pay owed to daily paid and non-established workers will be issued by the end of August.

The workers are now expected to settle back on the job after threatening industrial action last Wednesday. They had been told by letter that the monies would have been paid by July 31. However, no payments reflected on their salaries.

The workers, represented by the National Workers Union, descended on the union’s office demanding answers. Union officials puzzled, accompanied the workers to the ministry.

They were told that a computer glitch had prevented them from receiving the payments. The ministry officials assured that the monies would be paid by this month.

The National Workers Union (NWU) has submitted two recognition claims to the Ministry of Labour on behalf of workers employed with Karib Cable and Alternative Security Services Ltd.

These claims conveyed that the groups of workers have joined the National Workers Union and that the union’s submission is in keeping with the Labour Act No. 37 of 2006 section 357.

The NWU is seeking to become the exclusive bargaining agent for the workers in all matters dealing with their general conditions of employment. The union expects that the claims would be handled expeditiously.

The NWU already represents employees at Helen Television Systems Ltd.

Digicel Holly

The organisers of the Limacol Caribbean Premier League today clarified that contrary to reports in the media the LCPL matches will not be carried on LIME TV.

With Digicel the primary investor and presenting sponsor of the LCPL, audiences in St. Lucia will be able to view the matches on Tuesday 6th August, Thursday 8th August and Saturday 10th August via Daher Broadcasting (DBS) and Helen Television System.

And with the seven games already played in the LCPL taking place in front of capacity crowds in the stadiums and with millions more TV viewers across the globe tuning in, St. Lucia TV viewers are in for a certain treat.

Holly Hughes-McNamara, CEO of Digicel St. Lucia, comments; “At Digicel, we are huge fans and supporters of cricket. We could not be more excited to be bringing the LCPL to the island and have made every effort to ensure that as many St. Lucians as possible can get in on the LCPL action. With tickets for all of the three matches almost all bought out, we are delighted that we have also signed broadcast deals with the two major TV providers in St. Lucia meaning everyone on the island can enjoy our fantastic cricket and entertainment package.”

The following is a press statement issued by the Ministry of Public Service, Information and Broadcasting regarding the outstanding payment of wages and adjustments in salaries for workers of the National Workers Union:

In light of the inaccurate information being reported by certain sections of the media in relation to the payment of outstanding wages and salary adjustments to workers belonging to the National Workers Union (NWU) for the recently concluded collective agreement for the triennium 2010 to 2103, the Ministry of the Public Service, Information & Broadcasting wishes to clarify and inform the public of the issues surrounding the outstanding payment of wages and wage adjustments to the workers of the NWU.

The following provides the chronological sequence of events on the finalization of negotiations between the government and the National Workers Union:

• Negotiations between the NWU and the government negotiating team (GNT) ended on June 14, 2013.

• A memorandum on the collective agreement between the government of Saint Lucia and the NWU was submitted to cabinet on June 28, 2013.

• On July 22, 2013, a cabinet conclusion dated July 8, 2013 was issued and received by the ministry of the public service on July 24, 2013. It must be noted generally that cabinet decision takes approximately two weeks to be ratified.

• Upon receipt of the cabinet decision on July 24, 2013, the ministry of the public service immediately engaged the accountant general’s department on the most efficient manner and time frame in which the wage settlement could be made to the workers.

• During the ensuing discussion between the ministry and the accountant general’s department, it was recognized based on the varied and differential wage settlements for the different categories of workers, payment could not be possible on the July 25 [which is] government’s scheduled payday. Hence, it was proposed that payment of the negotiated wages be settled in two (2) phases – the first on July 31, 2013, and the other at the end of August 2013.

• In keeping with this proposed payment plan, the management of the ministry of the public service contacted the management of the NWU by telephone to inform of the same and promptly followed up in writing by letter dated July 25, 2013.

• Between the period July 25 to July 31, the ministry of the public service held several discussions on the progress of the agreed payments both of the new wages and the back-pay with the accountant general’s department.

• On July 30, the accountant general’s department informed the ministry of the public service that it was unable to make payments of the new wages on July 31, as agreed because of the complexity involved in programming government’s payroll system to effectuate payment, given the varied and differential wage agreements for the different categories of workers.

• The ministry of the public service immediately contacted the management of the NWU to inform the union of the situation faced by the accountant general’s department; with promises firstly, to continue dialoguing with the accountant general’s department to ascertain how quickly this matter could be resolved and secondly inform the NWU by 10 o’clock the following morning July 31, 2013 of the agreed approach to be adopted.

• On the morning of July 31, the members and management of the NWU visited the ministry of the public service without prior notification. The management of the ministry of the public service invited the management and members of the NWU to a meeting to explain the challenges that the accountant general’s department encountered in making the retro-active payments and as a result the accountant general’s department was unable to make the payments on July 31, 2013 as was previously agreed upon.

The management and staff of the NWU were also informed that the accountant general’s department would be working assiduously in getting the matter resolved at the earliest.

• On the afternoon of July 31, 2013, the ministry of the public service invited the management of the NWU, and accountant general’s department to a meeting to discuss the current situation faced by the accountant general’s department and to discuss possible options for addressing this matter.

• Following comprehensive discussions with the accountant general’s department, the following schedule was agreed upon:

1. Daily paid workers will receive their retro-active settlement on August 15, 2013

2. Daily paid workers wages will be adjusted in time for the August payroll

3. The retro-active payments and wage increases for monthly paid workers will be determined at a future date. As soon as notification is received by the ministry of the public service from the accountant general’s department of the date for payment, the management of the NWU will be immediately notified.

On behalf of the Government, the Ministry of the Public Service, Information and Broadcasting sincerely apologizes for the delay in the settlement of wages negotiated with the NWU. The Ministry is working very closely with the accountant general’s department to ensure that the new payments for the workers represented by NWU are made at the earliest possible time.

Prime Minister of Saint Lucia Dr. Kenny Anthony

Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Dr. Kenny D. Anthony is expected to travel to Trinidad on August 7, 2013 to attend the 15th meeting of the Council of Finance and Planning (COFAP) of CARICOM.

A press release informs that the meeting will be centered on a “Framework for Growth and Development in CARICOM,” an issue raised by the Prime Minister Anthony earlier this year, in which he lamented the “absence of a cohesive approach to the economic woes of the region.”

“At the time, Dr. Anthony called for a “big conversation” on the future of the economies of CARICOM. The matter was discussed at the thirty fourth regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government held in July, but the Heads decided to widen the discussion to include other ministers for finance,” the release said.

“Other matters for discussion and action include the appointment of a chairperson for the Board of Directors of the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) as well as the approval of the final text for the CARICOM Financial Services Agreement (CFSA),” it also stated.

Prime Minister Anthony will be accompanied by Acting Budget Director in the Ministry of Finance.