Sascha Wilson
Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
Executive Vice President of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU), Ernesto Kesar, is urging Labour Minister Stephen McClashie to fulfil his promise to help more than 100 retrenched Stork Technical Services workers receive their outstanding severance payments.
Following the retrenchment of the workers late last year, Kezar said, they wrote to the minister and met with him last month regarding the non-payment. He claimed the minister promised to intervene by the end of this month if the matter remained unresolved.
“All of our members are now home, and they can’t get their money because Stork and the Government, they tie up their money in BIR because of some so-called law, and I challenge the issue of law because those comrades who I represent they are not within the threshold. The threshold being $500,000 or over. None of them will get that amount of money in severance,” Kezar stated.
However, he said, the money was “tied up” in financial bureaucracy at the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR).
“The Minister of Labour said that if by the end of the month this thing don’t sort out, he will intervene, Kesar said.
“So we are calling on him to intervene this morning, but we’re also calling on his friend, his partner, Mr Colm Imbert, sir, if you never do anything good for workers in your life, I want you to do this. Instruct the people in the Ministry of Finance, BIR, to release the monies for these workers and give them their money.”
He further explained, “In a situation where a worker is being sent home via retrenchment, in this case, they being paid ex-gratia, there is a threshold where severance is concerned of $500,000.
“When the Caroni workers were sent home, once your severance doesn’t cross $300,000, it would have been tax-free. In this case, when the Petrotrin workers went home, they would have increased the threshold to half a million dollars. So that once your package didn’t cross $500,000, you weren’t taxed.”
The union leader stressed the urgency of resolving the matter before the upcoming election season.
“Now this is election season, and the workers are fearful that if the date for election is called, they may never get their money, and we told the minister that nobody is over the threshold,” he added.
Kezar, who is the UNC candidate for the Point Fortin constituency, criticised the government’s handling of the issue, calling it “bureaucratic nonsense,” and accusing the administration of being the “worst government” when it comes to labour rights.
He also accused the Government of victimising those who opposed its labour policies.
“We are saying here this morning, enough is enough,” said Kezar, who declared that he would not rest until the workers get their just due.
He added that the union’s political stance against the Government was driven by issues like these.
“This is why some unions have taken a political position against the Government,” Kesar said.
Kezar, who was accompanied by former Stork workers, was speaking with reporters in front of the Industrial Court on St Vincent Street in Port-of-Spain, where he is representing them in a separate matter.
He said that matter involved 24 permanent Stork workers who lost their jobs in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic under the guise of retrenchment.
“So we have the case here where we challenge the retrenchment wasn’t a retrenchment, but a termination.”
Following the hearing, Kezar confirmed that the matter was adjourned, with both parties agreeing to try and settle the issue within the next two months. If no agreement is reached, the matter will proceed to trial.