Barbados Today

There were no moving trucks, no hustling and bustling employees and definitely no garbage being collected.

It definitely was not business as usual at the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) today.

From as early as 8 a.m. this morning, workers gathered outside the SSA’s Wildey headquarters and downed tools, as instructed by the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW).

The action formed part of the NUPW’s industrial action to press for the reinstatement of employees of the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC), forced into early retirement.

While the SSA’s garbage collection trucks remained park in the yard, its employees chose to lime on the outskirts of the property.

While some seemed content to sit and chat, others instead chose instead to patronize a nearby vendor, where beverages seemed to be the item of choice.

When pressed by Barbados TODAY for a comment on the situation, all of the employees remained tight-lipped, and referred any comments to their union representatives.

Over at the Westbury Cemetery, Westbury Road, St Michael, the situation was the same for the dozen or so SSA employees stationed there.

One of the men said that while there were supposed to be five burials taking place at the cemetery, with the first slated for 12:30 p.m, they would be digging no graves.