As we told you at the top of the newscast, the Fruta Bomba mass layoffs began today in the Corozal District - and reports suggest that as much as 80% of the 251 staffers could be laid off by next week. From a distance, it's very unfortunate, but, up close, it's just plain devastating. Here's what some of the former employees had to say in Spanish today as they got their last pay checks:...
Employee
"It's very little, it is just exact to pay what we owe. The one without debt is good, but the one that is in debt, he's the one that is suffering. That's how it's going to stay - I can't do anything."
Reporter
"Where do you plan to work now?"
Employee
"Well I don't know, find another company, where ever there is job. If one day there is work here again in the north. If not well everything is lost."
Employee 2
"I feel desperate, because they just gave me a little bit of money."
Reporter
"What work are you going to do now?"
Employee 2
"That's what I'm wondering. Because I have debts. And it's not going to give me to even pay my debts."
In its release last week, Brooks Tropicals which owns Fruta Bomba said, quote, "all wages due employees based in Belize labor laws will be paid at the time employees are laid off."
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