(TRINIDAD EXPRESS) This afternoon, the Industrial Court is expected to rule on an application from the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union to stop State-owned Petrotrin from retrenching workers.
But almost 300 workers have already collected severance packages, the Express was told.
The workers, who received letters of termination last week have collected their packages at the company’s Learning Resource Centre, Pointe-e-Pierre.
The Express was told that some workers were satisfied with the packages while other walked away in tears.
“Some were happy because they had reached the age of retirement. But for the younger ones the packages cannot cover their mortgages and loans,” a worker told the Express.
The worker said she was uncertain when she would land a new job and was worried about her children’s future.
The Express was told that workers began collecting their severance packages on Saturday.
OWTU president general, Ancel Roget, called on workers to reject the severance packages being offered by the company.
Speaking at a rally at the Brian Lara Promenade on Friday, Roget said workers should not accept the money being offered by the government.
He said, “They are with the belief that you don’t know money so they throw a little million or two million before you. They sit down in a room and they contemplate that ‘if we give them that, we will break the struggle. And the only way to break that struggle is to invite them to see what packages they have’.”
The union has alleged that the Government plans to sell off the company’s assets, with the phased shutdown of the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery set to begin on November 30.
