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Jamaica: Banana workers demand land |
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3rd November, Radiojamaica.com
Scores of workers who are to be made redundant at the Eastern Banana Estates in St. Thomas are asking to take over ownership of the land they had worked. The workers are among a group of 500 who assembled on Friday morning to receive their redundancy payments. The Estate closed down after it was destroyed by Tropical Storm Gustav in August of this year.
The company announced last month that it would cease production of bananas for export to the United Kingdom. On Friday, some of the workers appealed to the Government of Jamaica to assist them, "I've been working at Eastern Banana over 6-years, workers here and get nothing at all... we want Government to come in and do something like now. Give us the land, we will farm it".
According to another displaced worker, the Government needs to step in and help residents with employment opportunities. "We have nowhere else to go ... what will I get now? How long can I live? I don't have anymore work to do," she said.
Opposition Spokesman on Agriculture, Roger Clarke, is calling on the Government to transfer parcels of land on the estate to the workers to continue the production of bananas. One worker commented, "A majority of the workers have been here for a number of years and now the company decide to stop banana production ... at least give the workers here some land". Agriculture Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton was unavailable for comment.
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