Some former workers of the now closed Toucan Connections Incorporated in Linden have started to receive their severance payments months after the call centre closed its doors abruptly however they continue to complain that they have not been paid the full amounts while others are still waiting.
Stabroek News spoke to some of the workers yesterday and was informed that some received as low as $6,000 while the highest payout was just over $180,000. The payment was also done in an ad hoc manner as the former employees were not officially told that they were going to receive payment but it was done through word of mouth.
And even as they await more of the monies due, the former employees are also calling on the government to have another call centre open its doors in the same building which is owned by the state. They feel that should this be done then the former employees should be given preference. Sources yesterday said that there are talks about opening another business -preferably a call centre- in the building but there has been no definitive decision.
“I just get a message telling I should check the bank…nothing else we don’t even know how much really we suppose to get but it seem like two former supervisors does contact some of the workers on Whats App (a phone messaging service) and is them tell people,” a woman who worked with the company for over five years said yesterday.
Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection Simona Broomes yesterday confirmed that she was informed that some of the workers received money but the ministry will have to carry out a detailed investigation to ascertain who was paid and how much money is still owed.
The St Kitts-based company shut its doors on August 28 without warning and the women who would have worked with it for many years are now calling for their severance packages. This had prompted Minister Broomes to become involved and she would have met with the over 80 former female workers. However, officials from the labour department of the ministry have been unable to contact company officials.
Yesterday, the former workers, who did not want their names to be mentioned, said that there are persons who would have worked with the company for over four years but who have not received any money. One senior supervisor who worked with the company for almost eight years only received $130,000 and there is no word when she would receive the remaining sum.
“Look is a whole set a mix up things, they [the former owners of the company] are not around and there is no system in place to really tell you how much money you will get,” one former employee said.
The employee said she will be visiting the labour department of the Ministry of Social Protection in an effort to understand the company’s responsibilities to her and other former workers. She said as former employees they are aware that it is not the government’s responsibility to pay them but they are hoping that the government would find a mechanism to make direct contact with company officials.
“People want to hear from them [the former owners] persons have a lot of questions and we know labour has a barrier but we want them to try.
Minister Broomes had told reporters that the ministry was working with the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Legal Affairs in an effort to contact the persons who owned the business. Once this is done, she had said, those persons would be taken to court for breaching the labour laws.
One former employee said that the company was disrespectful to its workers by closing its doors without warning and then informing them that the government was responsible for paying them. She said that she had seen “signs that the company was going under” and she approached labour and spoke out about the labour infractions that were committed but did not get the support from her colleagues who were afraid they would have lost their jobs.
“The people use to suspend and knock off people without warning but some of the workers were just so gullible and obsessed with the supervisors that they did not want to stand up for their rights”, the employee said.
She also spoke about the air conditioning systems not working and the company provided one fan for 10 employees which made the working conditions very uncomfortable.
And even though the building is owned by the government, the worker said that no official from the previous administration visited the building until around elections.
