Mia Mottley announces full-time employment for 720 Programme Workers

Barbados: Prime Minister and leader of Barbados Labour Party (BLP), Mia Amor Mottley, addressed the nation during a public gathering in Wotton, Christ Church, on Sunday night, February 1, 2026. She said that several hundred workers will be re-employed full-time from March 1, after they were terminated under the National Clean-Up Initiative.

PM Mottley stated that workers under the 720 programme will now work on a year-round schedule, with no week-on and week-off system. 

“As of the 1st of March, all workers in the 720 programme will work every week of the year. All week on, week on, week on, week on, week on, not the week off,” she told her supporters during the public gathering.

This decision will affect nearly 2000 workers, whose contracts ended in 2023. It is expected to bring stable employment. Many of these workers helped clean the damage after the La Soufriere volcanic eruptions in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Some were also part of the national beautification projects in Barbados.

The Prime Minister explained that the programme was developed during the COVID-19 period. It was initially started as the ash workers programme, which later became the 360 programme. It was then transformed to 720 programme.

“We said, look, bear with us. We know that some people would like to work every week in the 360, but because people needed work across the board, let us do 720 and you work week on, week off. When we catch ourselves, we will change it,” added PM Mottley.

Under the 720 system, workers had a week on and a week off. Prime Minister Mottley said that this was done to divide the work between more people. She added that the plan was always to transform it into a full-time work programme. 

The Prime Minister of Barbados also addressed concerns of the Barbados Workers’ Union, who questioned the self-employment model of the programme. She said that the Labour Minister Adrian Forde raised the issue in Cabinet several times.

“Led by the efforts of Ryan Straughn and Adrian “Medic” Forde, we listened to you and Toni Moore and the Barbados Workers Union. We ran the numbers, again and again, until we were certain it could be done properly,” she noted.

PM Mottley said that sustainability was a key factor in the decision. She noted that the original programmes were meant to be temporary and also emphasized that she does not want to create short-term jobs.