Some 18 persons, who are benefiting from temporary work in the food processing industry under the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP), are to be permanently employed at the end of their 26-week stint.

The workers have been employed to Southern Fruits and Food Processors in Bull Savannah, St Elizabeth since July, through the efforts of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

The company's managing director, Derrick Rochester, said the company, once approached, was happy to provide employment.

He says that after the initial 26 weeks, it is the intention of the organisation to hire the participants as part of the company's regular workforce.

"It came in very convenient for us as a company because many of our employees are now pensionable and we have been giving thought to replacing some of them and we are looking at this group of JEEP workers with a view to using them as part of our regular workforce," he says.

Rochester informs that the labour ministry paid the salaries for the workers for the first 13 weeks and the company is providing compensation for the remainder of the employment period, which ends this month.

He says that many of those employed are graduates of HEART/Trust NTA and they have been exposed to all aspects of the company's operations, including raw-material preparation, processing, labelling of the product, etcetera.

He says that the workers were also trained to operate machinery, enabling them to become more rounded, and to be an asset to the company as it explores expansion opportunities.