Hockey coach wages to be paid by January?

His assurance came after Newsday reported complaints that the ten hockey coaches in this programme had not been paid their wages since June.

Ramadhin said this will come after a current review of staffing now underway on the orders of Parliament’s Public Accounts and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) which instructed that these coaches must be regularised.

He related that when the Ministry had originally hired these coaches, many possessed university degrees in excess of the two CXC passes stated as pre-requisites.

As a result, the Ministry had created a new, higher category for such persons titled, “specialist coaches”, but because the then Cabinet’s nod had not been sought, these persons had been kept on short-term contracts.

Now the Regularisation Study is underway, which will bring both a more secure tenure plus payment of wages owed, Ramadhin explained.

“It is a sacrifice now, but will bring long-term benefits,” Ramdhin sought to assure the coaches.

“I have no problem backdating (the wages), once we can verify they are doing their roles.” While hoping to pay possibly as early as January, he said some effort must be spent to check on the coaches work for a requisite number of hours.