Minister of Agriculture Israel Bruce has addressed the situation of daily paid workers in St Vincent’s agricultural sector by focusing on two main areas: securing retirement benefits and restructuring their employment to assist private farmers.
Bruce speaking at a constituency consultation in North Leeward acknowledged the “cries” of daily paid workers who often work for decades without any financial safety net upon retirement.
He shared a specific example of a woman at the Rivulet agricultural station who had been a daily paid worker for 41 years and noted that under the current system, if she retired, she would have “nothing to fall back on” aside from a small National Insurance Services (NIS) payment.
The minister announced that the government is finalizing a decision to ensure that when daily paid workers retire, they “will have something in your hands to take home”. This initiative involves collaboration with the Minister of Public Service and the Attorney General to rectify the unfairness of the current system.
Bruce also discussed a “redesign” of the daily paid worker program within the Ministry of Agriculture, which currently employs almost 600 such workers.
Hiring Scheme: The ministry plans to create a system where private farmers who are struggling to find labor can hire government daily paid workers. A farmer needing help for a short period (e.g., six days) would register with the ministry and pay the government, which would then dispatch the workers to the farm.
Double Barrel Approach: Bruce described this as a “double barrel approach” designed to solve two problems simultaneously: it provides farmers with the labor they desperately need while reducing the “unnecessary pressure” on central government finances caused by maintaining an “over bloated” daily paid workforce.