HUNDREDS of employees of the former Majestic Industries Limited who are still trying to get monies owed to them when the company closed its doors 12 years ago have been given a lifeline.
Labour Minister Stephenson King has agreed to meet with a delegation of former employees of the company and their bargaining agent, the National Workers Union (NWU). King, at one time, said he was doing some indepth study on the matter and was sympathetic to the plight of the former employees.
The logistics of this meeting still have to be worked out as the delegation has not yet been selected and the session with King not yet dated.
Employees have been agitating for their severance pay and other monies that were due to them when the company folded on June 24, 2004.
Majestic Industries Limited was a subsidiary of Cleevepack International, owned by Americans who operated in Saint Lucia for over 30 years before deciding to call it quits. Its main base was in Vide Bouteille at the back of J. E. Bergasse in a factory shell which it owned.
The planned sit-down with King came as a result of a request to him from the NWU to discuss a petition signed by about 200 former employees of the company.
Employees, over the years, have been calling on the government of the day to assist them in getting the company to pay up but to no avail.
The NWU says it has been monitoring this issue and is in full support of the petition which calls for the sale of the company’s assets, the proceeds of which would go towards compensating the former employees.
The NWU is of the strong opinion that the land the company left behind should be sold and the proceeds used to pay the workers.
