BRADES – Following last month’s announcement that the Montserrat Development Corporation would be closed, the three directors received official notice of their termination on Thursday, April 30, 2015.
The three are Director of Infrastructure, Sean McLaughlin; Director of Tourism, Anita Nightingale; and Director of Trade and Investment Promotion, Ayiesha de Coteau-Sammy. CEO Ivan Browne left the organisation on April 15.
About seven other members on the managerial level were also terminated with only a few local staff attached to projects now run by the Government of Montserrat, Discover Montserrat has learned. Terminations are being conducted based on the Labour Laws, which dependent on some contracts require one-month notice while it can be shorter for others based on their remuneration and agreements. As DFID funding for MDC ends 31st May 2015, remaining staff would need to secure posts within the government to stay employed.
The Office of the Premier is now managing the projects which were already in progress at the MDC. In the interim, preparations are being made for a new entity which will handle Trade, Investment Promotions and Tourism.
According to the letter sent to staff “each staff member will receive all that is due to them under the terms of their contract, given that different contracts were in operation at MDC. Once again Government acknowledges that this difficult decision has impacted the lives of MDC staff and that is regrettable.”
