By Lesroy W. Williams Observer Reporter
(Basseterre, St. Kitts)”Landline, Internet, Mobile and Entertainment (Lime) is expected to downsize their regional and local staff in 2009 as the company undergoes transition, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Marketing in St. Kitts and Nevis, Laverne Caines said. About 16 jobs in St. Kitts and Nevis are expected to be slashed as LIME re-positions itself and refreshes its talent, Ms. Caines said. However, she didn’t say when the job cuts will begin. LIME presently has 115 employees in St. Kitts and Nevis. “We have to understand that the telecommunications industry is not immune to the global economic crisis,” she said. “St. Kitts and Nevis as part of this global community will be impacted.” As talent is refreshed within the company, a myriad of new opportunities will be created in terms of lateral movements, she said. The job cuts will bring about some 1,200 jobs chopped regionally. Regional Vice-President of Corporate Communications, Errol Miller, in a Jamaica Gleaner article, said that LIME, formerly Cable and Wireless, will reduce its staff in stages until September 2009. The employee target for the company regionally is 2,500. Currently, there are 3,700 workers across the Caribbean, a Jamaica Gleaner article dated Dec. 11 said. LIME was launched in 13 markets Caribbean-wide on Nov. 3 of this year. The 13 Caribbean countries include St. Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Dominica, St. Lucia and Anguilla. “We”re a new business-a fresh approach from Cable and Wireless-and we offer a new promise to our customers. A promise that we”ll use our international credentials to bring the best technologies to this region and build products and services that make Caribbean people’s lives better; and a promise that we”ll deliver the best communication services across the board”from landline to mobile and from broadband to TV and entertainment,” a communiqu” from LIME said. LIME is intended to make the Caribbean a better place for customers, colleagues and communities by offering more than a name change; it is offering a new and different business with a new and different approach, Chief Executive of Cable and Wireless, Richard Dodd said.
