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Labour Day project to cost $4m

Published:Thursday | May 16, 2013 | 12:00 AM
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This year's Labour Day projects will focus on infirmaries. Patients will be groomed and entertained. - File photos
Residents at the St Thomas Infirmary in Morant Bay, St Thomas.
The clay bricks used in construction, as well as the cornerstone at the right of the entrance to this administrative office, speak to the age of the Port Maria Infirmary in St Mary which when built in 1895 and for years after was known as the St Mary Poor House.
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This year's national Labour Day project will be the Port Maria Infirmary in St Mary, which will be refurbished at a cost of $4 million.

Work to be done on the infirmary - which houses 81 persons, 20 of whom are physically and mentally challenged - includes replanting the vegetable garden, create a plant nursery, set up the poultry and animal farm, refurbish the recreation room, chapel, kitchen and other areas. Patients will also be groomed and entertained.

Being held under the theme 'Lend a Hand ... Build our Land', the 2013 Labour Day and National Workers' Week, May 19 to 23, were launched on Monday at the Office of the Prime Minister.

Minister With Responsibility for Information Sandrea Falconer told the post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House yesterday that this year's projects would focus on children's homes, infirmaries, day-care centres and basic schools.

The 2013 Labour Day activities will be spearheaded under the ministries of Youth and Culture; Local Government and Community Development; and Labour and Social Security.

Parish council projects

A number of projects will be undertaken by parish councils islandwide, including work on the Mandeville Regional Hospital in Manchester; Roaring River Early Childhood Institute in Westmoreland; Charles Gordon Market, St James; and Spanish Town Market, St Catherine.

Work will also be undertaken to build two houses for homeless persons in St Thomas; repair steps to the Port Antonio Hospital in Portland; renovate Green Island Library, Hanover; erect partition for classroom blocks at St Mary's All-Age School in St Elizabeth; repair the Golden Age and Worthley Girls' homes in the Corporate Area; and paint bathrooms at the Central Police Station.

Labour Day and Workers' Week 2013 are being celebrated against two significant milestones - the 40th anniversary of the declaration of Labour Day by former Prime Minister Michael Manley, and the 75th anniversary of the birth of the modern trade-union movement following the labour riots of 1938.