{"id":250141,"date":"2020-05-29T13:07:11","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T17:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=250141"},"modified":"2021-03-14T16:49:25","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T20:49:25","slug":"bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/","title":{"rendered":"Bus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Bernard Coipel, Facebook photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

President of the Mahaut Bus Drivers Association, Bernard Coipel, believes that help is on the way and that bus drivers in Dominica will be compensated.<\/p>\n

His comments came after a Zoom meeting with Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit in an effort to address the concerns of bus drivers on the island regarding their share of the COVID-19 economic relief measures which the government has announced.<\/p>\n

The bus drivers are being offered a $15,000 loan from the government through the AID Bank at 1 percent interest.<\/p>\n

A number of bus drivers have rejected the notion of a loan as a form of assistance claiming that this will put an extra financial burden on them since their earnings have dropped significantly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Bus drivers in Portsmouth and surrounding communities gathered at Borough\u2019s Square in Portsmouth on Monday 25th May to express their dissatisfaction with the $15,000 loan facility.<\/p>\n

Some bus drivers have suggested that a grant facility would be more beneficial to them at this time.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Q-95 Radio recently, Coipel said the Zoom meeting held with the Prime Minister was successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Prime Minister decided to keep his promise and during the conversation, I watched him straight in his eyes…I feel confident in speaking with the Prime Minister and he told us what he is going to do,\u201d Coipel stated.<\/p>\n

He said some bus drivers cannot afford to pay the $15,000 loan.<\/p>\n

\u201cBus drivers are crying; some are saying we already have a loan to pay and for us to take another loan of $15,000 at 1 percent, they said, is not making sense. So, we discussed with the Prime Minister that the bus drivers are asking for a grant, so, whether it is $2000 a month or whether it is just $7000 upfront and then we will take the rest at the bank,\u201d he said. \u201cThe executive met and we did speak to AID Bank as well, they were invited as well and we got some good results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Skerrit earlier this week, speaking on KAIRI FM, told protesting bus drivers that they should \u201cstop being silly\u201d and take advantage of the loan facility at the AID Bank which has been put in place to assist small business owners impacted by Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy advice to them: stop being silly and go to the Social Security; go to the AID Bank; fill out the forms and access the funds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He indicated then that if bus drivers have an alternative suggestion, he is more than willing to listen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cBut I am not going to be engaged in any shouting argument at the Borough\u2019s Square,\u201d Skerrit declared. \u201cIf you have a legitimate concern, put it in writing; send it to me or ask to see me, but if you were to ask me for my advice, I will tell you that it is nonsensical for you to say you don\u2019t want the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $15,000 small business loan facility includes a six (6) months grace period on both the principal and the interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo for the next six (6) months you can be making money and not have to pay anything on the loan,\u201d the prime minister noted. \u201cThere are no penalties for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told the bus drivers that denying themselves from making money is not a wise decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President of the Mahaut Bus Drivers Association, Bernard Coipel, believes that help is on the way and that bus drivers in Dominica will be compensated. His comments came after a Zoom meeting with Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit in an effort…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":250155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[265,282,36,11,235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-covid-19-news","category-economy-development","category-general","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President of the Mahaut Bus Drivers Association, Bernard Coipel, believes that help is on the way and that bus drivers in Dominica will be compensated. His comments came after a Zoom meeting with Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit in an effort...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-29T17:07:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-14T20:49:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed\"},\"headline\":\"Bus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-29T17:07:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-14T20:49:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":568,\"commentCount\":15,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"COVID-19\",\"COVID-19 News\",\"Economy\\\/Development\",\"General\",\"Homepage Carousel\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful - Dominica News Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-29T17:07:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-14T20:49:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg\",\"width\":709,\"height\":733,\"caption\":\"Bernard Coipel, Facebook photo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dominica News Online\",\"description\":\"The most popular news site in the Commonwealth of Dominica\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/tdurand\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful - Dominica News Online","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful - Dominica News Online","og_description":"President of the Mahaut Bus Drivers Association, Bernard Coipel, believes that help is on the way and that bus drivers in Dominica will be compensated. His comments came after a Zoom meeting with Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit in an effort...","og_url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/","og_site_name":"Dominica News Online","article_published_time":"2020-05-29T17:07:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-14T20:49:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":709,"height":733,"url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/"},"author":{"name":"Admin","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed"},"headline":"Bus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful","datePublished":"2020-05-29T17:07:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-14T20:49:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/"},"wordCount":568,"commentCount":15,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg","articleSection":["COVID-19","COVID-19 News","Economy\/Development","General","Homepage Carousel","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/","name":"Bus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful - Dominica News Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg","datePublished":"2020-05-29T17:07:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-14T20:49:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg","width":709,"height":733,"caption":"Bernard Coipel, Facebook photo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/bus-drivers-describe-meeting-with-prime-minister-skerrit-as-successful\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bus drivers describe meeting with Prime Minister Skerrit as successful"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/","name":"Dominica News Online","description":"The most popular news site in the Commonwealth of Dominica","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/author\/tdurand\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Bernard-Coipel.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250141"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250156,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250141\/revisions\/250156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}