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Cow-itch hitch

Talks are on at this hour to try to seal a deal on allowances for sugar factory workers to allow the 2020 sugar harvest to start on Monday as scheduled.

Sources tell us that several players in the industry have been locked in discussions for most of the day following an impasse over a special allowance for employees of the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Management Company(BAMC).

BAMC workers are demanding compensation for processing cane they say is often riddled with cow-itch, a major skin irritant, and therefore environmental hazard, that has in the past forced entire schools to close for significant periods.

The BAMC employees argue they should be entitled to special pay to compensate for working in a factory that’s often filled with cow-itch spores that spread to every part of the facility.

Earlier today a BAMC worker told Starcom Network News that talks had broken down over the allowance issue putting the planned Monday crop start in Jeopardy.

But sources involved in the talks say discussions continue at the ministry of agriculture, chaired by agriculture minister Indar Weir and involving officials of the BAMC, the Barbados Workers Union which represents BAMC workers and  Barbados Sugar Industry Limited, the grouping of private cane farmers whose canes are processed at the BAMC-operated Portvale sugar factory.

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