Stage three of Barbados’ Economic Restructuring and Transformation Plan is to commence in January next year, and could possibly include another round of jobs cuts.

The stakeholders in Barbados’ Social Partnership – government, the trade unions and the private sector – met for roughly four hours Monday and were updated on government’s restructuring plan on the heels of last week’s visit by a team from the International Monetary Fund, who described as excellent Barbados’ progress in implementing the program.

President of the Nation Union of Public Workers Akanni McDowall told Starcom Network News after the meeting that were told to prepare for the next stage of the plan but were also given assurances that past mistakes in the retrenchment process would not be repeated.

Another of the stakeholders at the meeting was President of the Barbados Small Business Association, Wayne “Poonka” Willock who told Starcom Network News that despite some concerns about how the layoff process was done there’s a high degree of optimism about government’s overall economic plan because everyone knows what’s being done and why and what’s at stake.