This morning (September 28, 2018), several workers of Skeldon Estate staged a picketing outside of the their former workplace – the Estate’s Administrative Office – to call on GuySuCo and the Government to honour, without any further delay, their outstanding severance payments. Today, brings us to 273 days since Skeldon, Rose Hall and East Demerara Estates were closed, and 638 days since Wales Estate met a similar fate. For the thousands who have been affected, those days have been difficult and troubling and several previously mundane tasks have become a challenge in themselves.
For the jobless Skeldon workers, they shared that they have found it difficult to secure jobs in the area. They were quick to point out in the per chance instance when they manage to find a job, the pay is hardly sufficient and it is only for a short period. This, they said, had forced them to utilize the first half of their severance to meet their expenses and obligations. Those monies have now been exhausted and they are worried about how they will feed their families or send their children to school or keep the electricity on or pay their water bills, among other things. They said that they are facing troubling times and their outstanding monies will greatly assist them.
Today’s picketing followed another hearing of the severance pay matter yesterday (September 27, 2018) which is before Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln of the High Court. At the hearing, the Judge requested GAWU, GuySuCo and NICIL to present their arguments, in writing, within two (2) weeks and on October 29, 218 she committed to making a ruling on the matter. It is to be recalled, that GuySuCo, through its Attorney-at-Law, on spurious grounds, was seeking to have the matter dismissed. The Corporation has a legal obligation to settling the workers’ payments and the GAWU in fulfilling its responsibility, as the workers’ bargaining agent, as it has done on many occasions when it has exercised its right to take legal action in defence of the retrenched workers.
Today as workers have to picket to demand what they are lawfully entitled, workers of Trinidad and Tobago Petrotrin will receive their severance payments when due and those who are aged 55 and over will also receive their pensions. The severance package we understand from news reports may very well be enhanced recognizing the hardships they will face. But added to that they will receive the assistance of the state to pay their electricity bills, to purchase food, to have access to health centres, among other things. For the 7,000 workers whom the Granger Administration has made jobless, they have not even heard from the Government to even, at least, provide some moral support in this hard time of their lives. This black-and-white difference illustrates the scant concern the Coalition Government has for the workers in this country.
