Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour, Senator Arni Walters (FP)????

Some 40 public sector workers and employees of the overseas programme who provided exemplary and exceptional service were the "toast of the town" last Saturday when the Ministry of Labour hosted its annual GIVE Awards Ceremony at the Hilton Barbados.

The honourees came from ministries and departments across the public sector such as Agriculture; Civil Service; Community Development and Culture; Finance, Investment, Telecommunications and Energy; Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; Health; Home Affairs, Housing and Lands; Labour and Immigration; International Business and?? International Transport; Tourism; Transport and Works; the Office of the Attorney General; and the Prime Minister’s Office.

Workers from the employment programmes in Canada and United States of America also received awards.

Porter at the St. Lucy District Hospital, Franklin Hurley, was the "big" winner of the night, taking home three awards for "going above and beyond the call of duty". Apart from his GIVE trophy, Mr. Franklin was also presented with the Spirit of Public Sector Development Award from the Office of Public Sector Reform (OPSR) and the National Initiative for Service Excellence (NISE) award. The NISE and OPSR categories were introduced to the programme for the first time last year.

Farm worker, Michael McClean, was also honoured for some 40 years of dedicated service to the Overseas Employment Programme in Canada.

During the welcome remarks, Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour, Senator Arni Walters, congratulated the employees for "a job well done", describing them as "good Barbadian role models for your peers".

He stressed that the public sector must continue to develop a more customer focused, professional and productive employee who is not "only innovative, reliable and efficient, but provides service to their internal and external customers.

"Core values such as trustworthiness, respect, industry and discipline are also essential attributes which serve well at all levels of the public service from Permanent Secretaries to employees at the general worker level…issues such as efficiency, productivity and service excellence should be hallmarks in the public service," the Minister remarked.

GIVE, an acronym for Great attitudes, Initiative, Values and Excellence, is the Ministry of Labour’s contribution to the promotion of service excellence in Barbados. The theme for the ceremony was ???Aspire! Transform! Achieve!’

Some 130 workers have been honoured at the ceremony since its inception in December 2006.

askeete@barbados.gov.bb

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