Carib Scope

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  • Canadian cargo airline begins serving Guyana this week

    Canadian cargo airline begins serving Guyana this week

    Georgetown, Guyana – In a move that underscores the South American nation’s rapidly expanding trade and economic footprint, Canadian air cargo carrier Cargojet Airways Limited is set to launch new weekly non-scheduled cargo services to Guyana this Friday, operating on behalf of DHL Express USA, Guyana’s Aviation Minister Deodat Indar confirmed in an announcement Wednesday evening.

    The new route will see Cargojet aircraft operate a circular itinerary connecting Miami International Airport (MIA) in the United States, Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS) in Caracas, Venezuela, Cheddi Jagan International Airport (GEO) in Georgetown, Guyana, José María Córdova International Airport (MDE) in Medellin, Colombia, before returning to Miami, Indar detailed. This routing will open a consistent new air freight link between Guyana and key North, South, and Central American trade hubs.

    In his announcement, Indar extended official congratulations to Maurice John, Executive Director of DHL, and Xavier Cerruto, Director of Business Development and ACS Strategy for DHL Aviation Americas, on the launch of the upgraded service, which marks another milestone in Guyana’s growing air cargo ecosystem.

    The launch of Cargojet’s new service comes at a pivotal moment for Guyana’s air freight sector, which has seen nearly a decade of unprecedented expansion. Since 2020, the country has recorded steep growth in international air cargo volumes, a trend that closely tracks its fast-growing economy, surging cross-border trade activity, and steadily improving global connectivity, Indar explained. For carriers, this expansion has opened significant untapped market opportunities that Cargojet is now positioned to leverage.

    Official sector data bears out this remarkable growth: total annual air cargo volumes in Guyana jumped from 7.6 million kilograms in 2020 to 14.4 million kilograms in 2025, marking an 88.5% increase across the five-year period. This sustained surge has been fueled by two key drivers. First, the rapid expansion of Guyana’s emergent oil and gas sector has driven massive demand for imports of heavy industrial equipment and specialty supplies, most of which arrive via air freight. Second, the ongoing boom in regional e-commerce has pushed up consumer demand for fast, reliable air delivery of cross-border goods.

    This upward growth trajectory has continued into 2026, with year-to-date cargo volumes already recording a 21% increase compared to the same period last year. This consistent growth highlights the increasingly critical role that air freight plays in underpinning Guyana’s national development, supporting expanded trade, and enabling local and international business activity across sectors.

    The sector has received a significant boost from the entry and expansion of global cargo operators over the past six years. These new entrants have expanded total air cargo capacity in Guyana, while also strengthening the country’s access to key regional and global supply chains. Since 2020, major international carriers including LATAM Cargo and Avianca Cargo have established operations in Guyana, contributing to the ongoing development and diversification of the country’s air freight network.

    The new Cargojet service follows high-level diplomatic and business engagement between Guyana and the Canadian carrier earlier this year. President Dr. Irfaan Ali met with Cargojet Airways leadership during a visit to Canada earlier in 2026, after which Minister Indar held follow-up discussions with the airline’s representatives as the carrier finalized preparations to launch its Guyana operations.

  • New medical products authority coming under reform bill

    New medical products authority coming under reform bill

    The government of Barbados has introduced landmark legislation to the Senate that will overhaul the country’s decades-old drug regulatory system, laying the groundwork for a new independent authority designed to boost oversight, expand access to critical medical products, and build a domestic and regional pharmaceutical sector.

    Senator Jerome Walcott, Senior Minister coordinating Social and Environmental Policy and leading the Social Sector Reform initiative, presented the Barbados Medical Products Bill to the upper legislative chamber on Wednesday. He framed the proposal as the most transformative update to the island nation’s drug regulation framework since the Barbados Drug Service was founded in 1980. Under the plan, the newly created Barbados Medical Products Authority (BMPA) will operate as a modern, self-governing regulatory body with jurisdiction over all medicines, medical devices, and related health products distributed and used across Barbados.

    “This new body will serve as a modern, autonomous national regulator tasked with overseeing all medical products and guaranteeing that every product available to Barbadians meets strict international benchmarks for quality, safety, and therapeutic effectiveness,” Walcott explained. A former health minister, Walcott added that the BMPA will deliver three core public and economic benefits: it will expand access to proven safe and effective medications, strengthen national public health safeguards, and create a supportive regulatory environment for pharmaceutical manufacturing, research, and the broader life sciences industry. The bill is a central plank of the government’s broader push to modernize the national health regulatory ecosystem and establish Barbados as a leading center for regulatory science across the Caribbean region.

    Walcott traced the impetus for the reform to critical gaps exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, when small developing nations around the globe faced crippling barriers accessing life-saving vaccines, drugs, and medical supplies. “The pandemic laid bare deep inequities in access to vaccines, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, even basic supplies like nasal swabs,” Walcott said. “We had the resources, we were ready to purchase critical supplies, but producing and exporting nations simply could not prioritize us for delivery.” This experience pushed the Barbados government to prioritize reducing the country’s vulnerability to future global supply chain disruptions, he noted.

    Plans for the reform were further refined following discussions with Rwandan President Paul Kagame during his official visit to Barbados in April 2022. During those talks, Kagame shared Rwanda’s strategy to build domestic vaccine and pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity, including its high-profile partnership with German biotechnology firm BioNTech to produce messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. “That conversation directly sparked our interest in pursuing a similar path here in Barbados,” Walcott said.

    Following that meeting, Barbados developed a formal, long-term strategy to grow its domestic pharmaceutical industry. With funding and support from the Susan Thomas Buffett Foundation, the government began work on a foundational policy white paper and the development of a robust, internationally aligned regulatory framework. Walcott explained that global standards require nations to reach World Health Organization (WHO) Regulatory Maturity Level 3 before they can qualify for large-scale, internationally recognized pharmaceutical manufacturing, a benchmark Barbados has not yet hit. “Right now, our regulatory system is still in the early stages; we are currently at Level 1,” he said.

    The final legislation that reached the Senate this week was shaped by months of extensive stakeholder consultations, targeted technical assistance, and specialized training programs. The European Union provided critical development support for the initiative, while Rwandan government officials and legal experts shared hands-on experience building their own national regulatory framework, helping Barbados avoid common pitfalls in the process. In addition to the new regulatory authority, the government has already established Barbados Pharmaceutical Inc., a state-owned entity that marks another key milestone in preparing the country for future manufacturing operations.

    One of the BMPA’s core new responsibilities will be handling marketing authorization for all medical products, a function currently managed by the existing Barbados Drug Service. Walcott acknowledged that the government’s goal of reaching WHO Maturity Level 3 by 2028 is an ambitious target, but emphasized that the administration is committed to advancing the reform as quickly and effectively as possible to unlock the economic and public health benefits of a robust domestic pharmaceutical sector.

  • NCCU delinquency reaches $86.4 million as treasurer calls for greater member accountability

    NCCU delinquency reaches $86.4 million as treasurer calls for greater member accountability

    During the 16th Annual General Meeting of Roseau Cooperative Credit Union Limited (NCCU) held on June 3, 2026 at the St Alphonsus Parish Hall in Goodwill, Treasurer Shannon Bedminister delivered a sobering assessment of one of the institution’s most pressing ongoing challenges: persistently high loan delinquency that threatens the cooperative’s ability to serve its membership.

    Presenting the official Treasurer’s Report for the 2025 fiscal year, which closed on December 31, 2025, Bedminister outlined concerning figures that go far beyond simple financial accounting. As of the end of 2025, the credit union’s gross delinquent loan portfolio totaled $86,414,304, pushing the overall delinquency rate to 14.07% — nearly three times the 5% PEARLS international benchmark for healthy credit union portfolio performance.

    Bedminister emphasized that this delinquency burden is not an abstract corporate issue, but a collective concern that touches every member of the cooperative. Every dollar of unpaid debt, he explained, is money that belongs to the NCCU’s membership base: it draws from individual savings accounts, reduces returns on neighbor-held shares, and erodes the retirement security of working members who have built the institution over decades. These locked-up funds cannot be reinvested to deliver better interest rates, expand member services, or launch new financial products that benefit the entire community, he added.

    In line with the cooperative’s community-focused structure, Bedminister called on all NCCU members to engage openly with family, friends and colleagues who hold outstanding loans with the credit union. He urged members to encourage borrowers to meet their repayment commitments, noting that honoring loan obligations benefits not just the credit union’s bottom line, but borrowers’ own long-term financial health and the collective stability of the cooperative community all members rely on.

    To address the growing delinquency challenge, NCCU leadership has rolled out a multi-pronged, comprehensive strategy designed to improve portfolio quality and reframe community conversations around loan repayment. The core components of the strategy include:
    1. Adoption of the Jack Henry Collections Software platform, which upgrades the credit union’s ability to track delinquent accounts, prioritize high-priority cases, and monitor accounts in real time to enable more proactive account management.
    2. A shift to early-stage intervention, where the credit union now dedicates additional resources to working with borrowers who have missed early payments, preventing minor delays from escalating into full non-performing loans.
    3. Structured, member-centered engagement, including direct outreach to borrowers, customized payment plans, loan restructuring, and updated refinancing options that give flexible pathways for members to bring their accounts back into good standing.
    4. Institution-wide cross-departmental delinquency reduction campaigns that mobilize staff across all branches and departments to conduct active outreach and open communication with delinquent borrowers.
    5. A targeted public awareness campaign that uses traditional advertising and social media engagement to remove the stigma around conversations about loan repayment, reinforcing the core cooperative principle that delinquency is a shared responsibility that impacts every member.

    Bedminister stressed that the new framework is not focused solely on aggressive debt collection. Rather, its long-term goal is to rebuild a culture of shared financial responsibility and cooperative accountability across all the communities NCCU serves.

    Looking ahead to the 2026 fiscal year, NCCU management expresses confidence that the new strategies will deliver measurable improvements to the credit union’s loan portfolio quality. To further strengthen these efforts, the NCCU Board of Directors has put forward a bold proposal for member consideration and approval: the public publication of names of delinquent members. Bedminister noted that this approach has already delivered positive results at other cooperative institutions, encouraging higher repayment rates and reinforcing a culture of collective accountability. The final decision on whether to implement this policy will rest entirely with NCCU’s voting membership, and leadership has stated it values the membership’s guidance as it works to protect the credit union’s long-term financial strength and advance the collective interests of all members.

  • Employers grapple with retention as workers prioritise flexibility, culture

    Employers grapple with retention as workers prioritise flexibility, culture

    The landscape of talent acquisition in Barbados has fundamentally shifted, leaving local employers grappling with persistent difficulties in attracting and keeping qualified staff, according to the Human Resource Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB). The industry group has issued a clear warning that outdated, traditional recruitment strategies can no longer meet the evolving needs of today’s workforce, as job seekers reorder their priorities beyond basic compensation.

    “Recruitment hurdles remain a top, ongoing topic of discussion among human resource professionals across the island,” HRMAB President Tisha Peters shared in an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY. Peters outlined the multilayered challenges employers currently navigate: not only are companies struggling to source candidates that match required skill profiles, but they also face high rates of early employee turnover, last-minute candidate withdrawals from hiring processes, and departures just weeks after new hires accept job offers.

    Peters emphasized that the competition for skilled workers has intensified across multiple sectors, with some industries facing critical, widespread skills gaps. A core driver of these new challenges, she explained, is the changing expectation of the modern workforce. “Today’s employees don’t stop their assessment at a salary number,” Peters noted. “They are prioritizing company culture, flexible work arrangements, clear career development pathways, quality leadership, and a holistic positive employee experience when evaluating where they want to work.”

    This shift in worker priorities means organizations can no longer treat recruitment as a simple process of filling open headcount, Peters added. “For Barbadian employers, this new reality demands a complete strategic reset. Recruitment can no longer be transactional. If companies want to attract and retain top-tier talent, they have to invest long-term in building a strong employer brand, refining onboarding processes, expanding training opportunities, and prioritizing retention initiatives that align with what workers actually want.”

    Despite the widespread recruitment challenges, Peters highlighted that internships remain a powerful, underutilized tool for building a sustainable future talent pipeline for local organizations. HRMAB has welcomed the consistent commitment from Barbadian companies to offer internship placements across a diverse range of sectors, including hospitality, administration, marketing, human resources, finance, technology, and customer service.

    However, the HRMAB president also pointed out that demand for internship opportunities from young job seekers far outpaces the number of available positions. Peters is encouraging local employers to reframe how they view internship programs: rather than treating them as a short-term solution for extra operational support, they should be integrated into long-term talent development strategies. “Internships give organizations the chance to nurture young talent early on, and introduce new entrants to the actual demands and dynamics of professional work,” she explained.

    Peters also extended guidance to young people entering the workforce, urging them to approach internships as high-value learning experiences rather than focusing exclusively on immediate monetary compensation. “An internship’s greatest value often lies outside of a paycheck. It’s a chance to build hands-on experience, grow professional confidence, expand your industry network, and learn what workplaces expect from their teams. Those long-term gains often open far bigger doors down the line than immediate pay,” she said.

    The conversation also addressed a growing disconnect between the expectations of young new workers and the realities of the modern Barbadian workplace. Peters acknowledged that this expectations gap is a widespread issue that industry has been forced to confront. Employers are increasingly prioritizing soft skills that drive long-term success: accountability, resilience, teamwork, adaptability, professionalism, strong communication, and a willingness to learn continuously. At the same time, many young workers enter the field expecting immediate rapid career advancement, fully flexible arrangements, or roles that perfectly align with their specific academic focus from day one – expectations that do not always match open roles available on the market.

    To close this gap, Peters said that cross-sector collaboration will be critical: employers, educational institutions, and professional industry bodies must work together to align preparation with workplace needs. “The solution starts with expanding career readiness programming at both the secondary and tertiary education levels,” she said. Existing initiatives like Job Start Plus, alongside training for resume writing, interview preparation, and early workplace exposure, can give young people the foundational tools they need to build successful, long-term careers.

    Peters also added that employers hold responsibility for closing the gap, stressing that companies must clearly communicate role expectations upfront, and build structured, supportive onboarding experiences that help new workforce entrants adjust to professional life and grow within their roles.

  • US Launches Fresh Airstrikes on Iran as Trump Warns of Renewed Attacks

    US Launches Fresh Airstrikes on Iran as Trump Warns of Renewed Attacks

    On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that American military forces have initiated a second straight day of airstrikes targeting multiple sites within Iran, framing the operation as a direct response to what it calls “Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression.”

    In a public statement posted to the social platform X, CENTCOM outlined that at the direction of the U.S. Commander in Chief, its forces commenced the new round of self-defense strikes at 5:15 p.m. Eastern Time.

    The announcement followed earlier comments from President Donald Trump made in the Oval Office earlier that same day, where he signaled that additional military action would be imminent after talks to reach a negotiated agreement with Iran failed to produce a breakthrough. “We’re going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard,” Trump stated. “We hit them hard yesterday. We’re going to hit them again hard today, in case you miss it, in case you don’t turn on your television set, and we’ll see what happens with the deal.”

    The first wave of U.S. strikes on Tuesday came in retaliation for an incident in which an Iranian drone collided with a U.S. military helicopter operating over international waters off the coast of Oman. The damage from the collision forced the two crew members on board to make an emergency water landing, CENTCOM confirmed. Roughly two hours after the crash, an unmanned U.S. surface vessel successfully recovered both crew members unharmed, per the command’s initial reporting.

  • UPP pledges to support safe resettlement of Petite Savanne

    UPP pledges to support safe resettlement of Petite Savanne

    Nearly 11 years after Tropical Storm Erika leveled the coastal village of Petite Savanne, Dominica’s main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) is bringing a long-simmering community demand back to the forefront of national political conversation: giving displaced residents the choice to return home, if rigorous safety assessments confirm the area is habitable.

    When Erika tore through Dominica in 2015, the storm triggered catastrophic landslides and widespread destruction that forced the entire population of Petite Savanne to relocate permanently, most settling in the newly built community of Bellevue Chopin. For many of these displaced families, however, the connection to their ancestral land and lifelong community has never faded. The dream of rebuilding their lives in Petite Savanne has remained unshaken through more than a decade of policy conversations that have overwhelmingly centered on permanent resettlement elsewhere.

    In an official public statement released on June 9, 2026, UPP leader Joshua Francis made clear that a future UPP administration would prioritize making that dream a safe reality, with non-negotiable guardrails rooted in technical expertise. “Any discussion regarding the reopening and resettlement of Petite Savanne must first be guided by science, safety, and sound planning,” the statement read. Before any return initiative moves forward, the party has committed to commissioning full geotechnical surveys and land suitability assessments to map which portions of the village are stable enough for housing, farming, commercial activity, and critical infrastructure. The UPP stressed that citizen safety will remain the top priority in all decision-making.

    If assessments greenlight partial or full resettlement, the party has proposed establishing a dedicated Special Petite Savanne Resettlement Fund to support returning residents. The fund would cover a wide range of needs, from home construction and rehabilitation to the restoration of damaged farmland. It would also provide grants for small business development, support for reviving Petite Savanne’s historic bay oil distillation industry—once a cornerstone of the local economy—and investment in core community infrastructure and public services, alongside youth empowerment and economic development programs.

    Long a vital contributor to Dominica’s agricultural sector, Petite Savanne was once renowned across the country for its robust community bonds and profitable bay oil trade. The UPP argues that this rich cultural and economic heritage does not need to be permanently lost to storm damage, and that residents should have the autonomy to restore their community where conditions allow.

    Beyond resettlement, the party has also pledged to prioritize the rehabilitation and reopening of the Delices–Petite Savanne road, pending formal engineering and environmental approval. Reconnecting this key transportation route, the UPP notes, would open up access to underused agricultural land across the southeast, stimulate local economic activity, and strengthen regional connectivity.

    Critiquing the current national approach to Petite Savanne’s future, UPP leadership argues that policy discussions have for too long focused solely on forced permanent relocation, rather than expanding choices for displaced citizens. The party’s stance frames the potential resettlement of Petite Savanne as a core component of its broader national vision: one centered on inclusive rural development, agricultural renewal, climate-resilient sustainable communities, and greater economic self-reliance for all Dominicans.

    “No community should be forgotten. No citizen should be denied the opportunity to return to his or her roots where it is safe and feasible to do so,” the statement concluded. For hundreds of displaced Petite Savanne residents, the UPP’s pledge marks the most significant push for expanded choice over their future in more than a decade.

  • Syphilis cases increasing

    Syphilis cases increasing

    Barbados is facing a notable surge in new syphilis infections, prompting the country’s Ministry of Health and Wellness to issue a renewed public alert urging all adults to prioritize sexual health protection through evidence-based preventive measures, routine screening and timely medical intervention.

    Syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that is both fully preventable and curable with appropriate care, often flies under the radar for affected people. The infection is characterized by mild or even completely asymptomatic early stages, meaning many carriers remain unaware they have contracted the pathogen and can spread it to sexual partners unknowingly.

    Official national surveillance data compiled by health authorities paints a clear picture of the growing trend: between 2024 and 2025, new reported cases climbed from 107 to 156, a year-over-year increase of roughly 46%. Young adults between the ages of 20 and 29 have consistently accounted for the largest share of new infections in both reporting years, representing 40.2% of cases in 2024 and 37.8% of cases in 2025. Within this age bracket, men made up the majority of confirmed cases, at 72.1% in 2024 and 61% in 2025.

    The data also shows a concurrent rise in syphilis screening across the country. The Best dos Santos Public Health Laboratory, the island nation’s leading public health testing facility, processed 14,835 syphilis tests in 2025, up from 12,731 tests conducted in 2024. Over the past five years, syphilis positivity rates among tested individuals have fluctuated between 2.1% and 4.1%, resulting in a five-year average positivity rate of 2.9%.

    To help the public recognize potential infection, health officials outlined the common, often subtle symptoms of syphilis. Early infection typically presents as a painless open sore on the genitals, anus or mouth. As the infection progresses, a non-itchy rash often develops, most frequently on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet. Other possible symptoms include swollen lymph nodes, low-grade fever, persistent fatigue, sore throat and generalized body aches. Because these symptoms are mild, intermittent, and easily mistaken for other common illnesses, many people dismiss them and forego testing. Crucially, even if visible symptoms resolve on their own without treatment, the underlying infection remains in the body and will progress to more advanced stages over time.

    Left untreated, syphilis can cause severe, permanent and irreversible damage to critical organ systems, including the brain, heart and blood vessels, leading to long-term disability or even death. For pregnant people, untreated syphilis carries devastating risks, including miscarriage, stillbirth, and life-threatening congenital illness in newborns. Health officials emphasize that all of these severe outcomes are entirely avoidable through early detection via screening and prompt, effective treatment.

    The Ministry of Health and Wellness is calling on all sexually active Barbadians to undergo regular syphilis testing, particularly for individuals who have new or multiple sexual partners. Testing is straightforward, widely accessible through both public and private healthcare providers across the island. Correct and consistent condom use remains one of the most effective individual-level interventions to reduce the risk of contracting syphilis and other common STIs.

    Anyone who receives a positive syphilis test result is advised to start treatment immediately and notify all recent sexual partners so they can also get tested and treated if needed. Pregnant people are reminded that attending antenatal care early in pregnancy enables routine STI screening and early intervention to protect the health of both parent and child. Health officials also highlighted that sexual health protection is a shared responsibility for all sexual partners.

    Moving forward, the Ministry of Health and Wellness will maintain ongoing surveillance of STI transmission trends across Barbados. It will continue collaborating with frontline healthcare providers, community organizations and the general public to strengthen prevention outreach, expand access to testing and treatment, and improve public education about sexual health risks and protective measures across the island.

  • Shot and Paralysed at 16

    Shot and Paralysed at 16

    In a devastating tragedy that has upended the life of a promising young athlete, 16-year-old Orell Reyes of Pomona Village, Belize, is now bedridden and paralyzed from the waist down just days after he was gunned down in an unprovoked ambush. Just one week before the shooting, Reyes was running drills and sprinting across the football field with his teammates, looking forward to a future anchored in the sport he loved.

    The life-altering attack unfolded on June 2, shortly after Reyes wrapped up a routine football practice. As he walked with his cousins, two gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire on the group, striking the teen in the back. When Reyes woke up in a local hospital, he quickly realized he had lost all sensation below his waist. Describing his condition to local outlet News 5, Reyes said, “From my waist to my foot, dead, dead, dead, pops. I can’t feel nothing.” To this day, the bullet that robbed him of his mobility remains stuck in his back.

    Local medical professionals have warned that attempting to surgically remove the bullet inside Belize carries too high a risk of fatal or further disabling complications. The only viable path forward for Reyes is to travel to Mérida, Mexico, to receive specialized, advanced care that could give him a chance at regaining some quality of life. But the steep cost of this out-of-country treatment is far out of reach for the teen’s working-class family, leaving them trapped with no clear way to help their son.

    In an emotional plea for community support, Reyes shared that he is exhausted by the endless days stuck lying on his back, and only wants the chance to get the bullet removed and rebuild his life. “I just want a little help to go outside so they can take out this bullet out of my back. I tired of laying on my back,” he said.

    As of the latest update, Belizean law enforcement officials have not yet identified a clear motive for the shooting. Investigators working the case do not believe Reyes was the gunmen’s intended target, leaving the teen and his family to grapple with the reality that his life was destroyed by a random act of gang or criminal violence.

    Tonight, News 5 Live will air an exclusive full interview at 6 p.m. local time, where Reyes and his mother, Kimberly Estero, will open up about the sudden tragedy and how they are coping with this permanent, life-altering change.

  • CTUSAB calls for urgent talks amid pending CO Williams layoffs

    CTUSAB calls for urgent talks amid pending CO Williams layoffs

    One of Barbados’ most influential labour umbrella groups is pushing for urgent nationwide discussions on the island’s growing labour market crisis, following a bombshell announcement that a decades-old leading construction firm is set to implement immediate job cuts that have reignited debates over the country’s conflicting employment trends.

    The Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) made the call after 66-year-old construction giant CO Williams revealed in an internal June 5 memo circulated to all employees that it would begin rolling out redundancies as early as the coming Friday. The company, which got its start in 1960 when founder Charles Williams launched a small earthmoving operation, attributes the planned cuts to long-running operational hurdles and a steady decline in its global and regional competitiveness.

    The layoff plan has already sparked fierce pushback from the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU), which is now demanding the company release concrete data and evidence to back up its decision to cut jobs.

    In an exclusive interview with local media outlet Barbados TODAY, CTUSAB President Ryan Phillips broke down the deeply worrying paradox that has come to define Barbados’ current labour landscape. On one hand, thousands of young, working-age Barbadians are actively searching for stable work and facing persistent barriers to employment. On the other, major sectors that drive the island nation’s economy—including hospitality and construction—are openly reporting crippling skill gaps and acute labour shortages that are holding back growth.

    Phillips emphasized that this disconnect is not a new, isolated incident. “We flagged this growing trend at our press conference last week,” he explained. “We’ve heard repeatedly from young people that they can’t find work opportunities, while at the same time, dozens of employers across key industries say they can’t fill open roles.”

    The planned layoffs at CO Williams, he argues, lay bare a fundamental structural mismatch that requires immediate coordinated action from government policymakers, organized labour groups, and private sector industry leaders. If left unaddressed, Phillips warns, the problem will escalate and put broader national economic stability at risk.

    “What is most alarming about this development is that it makes the contradiction impossible to ignore,” Phillips said. “When a major established construction firm is laying off workers at the same time the industry as a whole says it can’t find enough labour, something is clearly out of alignment. We have to ask: are we failing to distribute available work equitably across the workforce? Are our training programs not aligned with the skills that growing sectors actually need right now?”
    Against a backdrop of mounting global economic volatility, Phillips stressed that Barbados cannot afford to dismiss early warning signs of labour market instability or allow existing frictions to fester. International economic headwinds will inevitably impact the small island nation, he noted, making protecting existing employment and rolling out targeted workforce retraining initiatives two of the most critical priorities for safeguarding long-term national stability.

    “This is exactly why we need an urgent national dialogue on this issue,” Phillips urged. “We’re already facing mounting pressures from the global economy, and those impacts will reach Barbados before long. Laying off workers at this moment only amplifies existing risks for working people and the wider economy, and that makes this issue too urgent to ignore.”

  • PM Skerrit satisfied with progress on Goodwill Secondary School project site

    PM Skerrit satisfied with progress on Goodwill Secondary School project site

    During an on-site inspection this week, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica announced that construction of the new Goodwill Secondary School (GSS) is moving ahead at a steady, encouraging pace, calling the development “very satisfactory” and aligned with the government’s top education priorities.

    The original GSS campus was left completely unusable after Hurricane Maria tore through the island nation in 2017. Today’s project is one of six new educational facilities being built across Dominica through the China Aid Project, a bilateral development partnership between the government of Dominica and the People’s Republic of China. Ground was officially broken for the new campus on September 6, 2023, and contractors from the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) launched demolition of the damaged original structure just over two months later, on November 13 of that same year.

    Walking through the construction site, Skerrit highlighted that all core structural work on the facility is now complete, with only final fitting-out works remaining. “You can see tiling and painting are well underway, all electrical and plumbing infrastructure is already in place – it is just a matter of installing the final fixtures,” he explained.

    Designed as a modern, student-centered learning space, the new campus was planned to accommodate every key need of a 21st-century education. Skerrit pointed out that the design features ample-sized classrooms, dedicated specialized spaces including science labs, a full library, computer suites, and IT facilities. Physical education was also a core priority in the planning process: indoor space on the first floor has been allocated for court sports including basketball, netball and volleyball, while the adjacent Pottersville playing field will provide additional outdoor space for other athletic activities. Once construction wraps up, the entire facility will be fully equipped and furnished before welcoming students.

    One of the project’s most groundbreaking features is its focus on climate resilience, a critical consideration for small island nations like Dominica that face frequent extreme weather events. Skerrit emphasized that the new GSS has been engineered to withstand severe catastrophic weather events, meaning teaching and learning can resume almost immediately after a natural disaster strikes, eliminating extended disruptions to students’ education that were common with older, less resilient infrastructure.

    Skerrit framed the project as a reflection of the Dominica government’s unwavering commitment to upgrading education across the country. “Having a safe, conducive place for learning is priority number one for our government and the Ministry of Education,” he said. “That is why we have continuously invested in upgrading physical infrastructure and learning centers across Dominica, to ensure every student has access to a learning environment that sets them up for success.” He added that the near-completion of the new GSS marks an exciting milestone for both the local Goodwill community and the future of education across the island nation.