Lay-offs worry workers By Adrian Frater, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU: WHILE THE 'lay-off' exercise now unfolding at English Sports Limited is causing much anxiety among workers, Technology Minister, Phillip Paulwell is dismissing speculations that the Montego Bay-based offshore gambling establishment is about to fold. "The company's operations is seasonal, sometime it peaks and sometime it slows down," said Minister Paulwell, who express-ed confidence that the company is on course to realise its full potential. "What is happening is nothing unusual, the operations normally slow down in the summer months." However, panic seems to be setting in among the workers at English Sports as numerous letters of termination, they claim, have been issued. According to one of the company's supervisor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, she thinks that based on the number of persons being sent home, it is only a matter of time before the company ceases to operate. "Every week a different group of workers get 'lay off' letters and nobody is saying anything to us," said the supervisor, who has seen even some of her fellow supervisors sent home. "The 'lay off' is affecting every single department, I can tell you that there are a lot of worried people here." Numerous attempts to speak to the company's human resources manager, Rose Skinner; and the personnel manager, Pamela Findley, proved unsuccessful as The Gleaner was told that both ladies were either too busy to come to the telephone or were out of office. In addition, the many promises to return The Gleaner's calls were not kept. "What you want to hear from Ms. Skinner, what you want to know about English Sports," asked the telephone operator, who kept insisting that she be allowed to answer whatever queries The Gleaner had. "Anything you hear about English Sports is not true, the company is not closing down, everything is just fine." The company, which was started just over four years ago in the Montego Bay Free Zone by the US-based Atiyeh brothers (Joseph and Dennis), received a $64 million loan from government with an agreement to start paying back the loan in four years at a rate of 7 per cent. For the better part of last year, the company operated under a cloud following news that a United States federal grand jury had indicted the Atiyeh brothers on several counts of illegal gambling. The charges have since been dropped. Beside the current lay-off situation, it would appear that all is not well financially with English Sports Limited. The company's former publicist Byron Balfour recently had to use legal recourse to recover US$10,000 that was owed to him. "I had to initiate court proceedings to get them to pay me," said Balfour, who was subsequently paid in an out of court settlement brokered by his attorney, Francis Tulloch. "There is a story to be told about English Sports but you will have dig deep and investigate."
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