The Tribune

CITY Markets workers will be allowed to collect National Insurance benefits starting today, the government has announced.

All full-time employees of the now defunct supermarket chain are eligible to receive benefits from the ongoing National Insurance Unemployment Programme, the Ministry of Labour and Social Development said in a statement yesterday.

Employees who want to take advantage of the scheme can apply at the National Insurance Board headquarters located on Baillou Hill Road.

The announcement comes after trade union executives said the employees were left in "limbo" while a deal for the sale of the chain is worked out.

They were responding to City Markets Principal Mark Finlayson, who last month said the company had not closed, but merely "suspended" operations - meaning no severance pay would be offered presently.

President of the National Congress of Trade Unions (NCTUB), Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson, said: "These persons at City Markets, you cannot have them in limbo. They have bills to pay and children to take care of.

"They have to pay light and water bills, and put food on their table, yet they are being told that they are not fired."

Mrs Dotson said: "We are asking the Government to ensure that these persons are taken care of, so that they have access to benefits provided by social services and National Insurance until the sale is done, as they did with the people in the Straw Market."