President of the Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce (DAIC), Kenny Green, said bus drivers need better representation to benefit from government incentives and assistance. He noted that without proper representation and a functional association, the bus drivers will be forced to stage massive protests again in the future if they need government help. He added that the drivers will be better strengthened if they can put their acts together.
According to Green, bus transport workers are an important workforce in the country and they are crucial to the growth of the economy. He however revealed that their cash-in-hand mode of business is detrimental to them in the long run since this offers no financial protections in a recession as the one occasioned by the COVID-19 lockdown.
“They are the ones who need it the most and it compromises their independence, because if after every crisis you have to come cap in hand to the government because you are not contributing into the system, then what value are you going to get?” he asked.
Green credits the current leadership of the bus drivers association for working hard to restructure the association. He however noted that the drivers “have limited resources and limited knowledge with regards to how they can structure themselves to be able to go back to social security.” He added that since most drivers do not contribute to social security, they are lucky to have the Skerrit-led administration offer them a $15,000 AID bank loan.
“In fact, the money is coming directly from government, which means government has the discretion to say to bus drivers who have basically seen their income fall that they can actually go in and apply for income support under the programme,” he explained.
Meanwhile, president of the Mahaut Bus Drivers Association, Bernard Coipel, said he had a Zoom meeting with Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit over the affairs of the association. He said the meeting was successful and that the Dominican leader has promised to offer more help to drivers whose incomes were affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
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