Arthur Green, Gleaner Writer

YALLAHS, St Thomas:

Mayor of Morant Bay and chairman of the St Thomas Parish Council, Harold Brown, has made an urgent appeal for the soon-to-be-dismissed workers of Eastern Banana and the Sugar Company of Jamaica Eastern Region.

Speaking at the monthly meeting of the council recently, councillor Brown, a trade unionist by profession, noted that the 1050 persons from sugar and more than 400 from bananas, who are to receive redundancy letters, represent a terrible blow to the parish and will, no doubt, have a devastating impact on their families.

"It will hit hard for many who, for years, have given the best of their working lives to these sectors," he said.

Government intervention

He is also calling for Govern-ment intervention in facilitating the establishment of a cooperative, that displaced persons can find self-sufficient ways of maintaining themselves and their families.

He also made an appeal for the prime minister and ministers of labour and agriculture to speed up the process to alleviate the suffering of those to be affected.