After reports that a job action had shut down the Motor Vehicle Bureau circulated earlier this week, Police Commissioner Franz Christian has issued a statement saying the employees were out due to illness.
In the release issued from Government House Christian said, "It was learned that employees became ill over the weekend after eating a meal from a local restaurant last Friday."
In response to the job action reports, Central Labor Council President Luis "Tito" Morales said that while his Steelworkers Union was not part of any job action, he sympathized with the workers' problems, which Morales attributed to understaffing at the bureau.
Christian took issue with Morales' remark that the staff had been reduced from 20 to eight, causing problems at MVB.
"In the past, with manual processing of applications there may have been a need for 20 or more persons," he said. "However, with computers and automation the requirement is much less."
However, Christian said his department was processing the necessary paperwork to hire more employees. He didn't say how many would be hired.
In the meantime he said he would pull employees from other departments to provide service at the MVB until bureau employees can return to work.
