Amal­ga­mat­ed Work­ers’ Union (AWU) pres­i­dent Michael Pren­tice is dis­miss­ing claims of an over­time rack­et at a de­part­ment in the Port-of-Spain City Cor­po­ra­tion, and is de­mand­ing an apol­o­gy from May­or Chin­ua Al­leyne.

At a me­dia con­fer­ence yes­ter­day, Pren­tice de­scribed the al­le­ga­tions against work­ers at the Trans­port and Cleans­ing De­part­ment as trou­bling.

“We sim­ply say­ing that we would not sit back and al­low the work­ers of the Trans­port Di­vi­sion’s names and the de­part­ment to be dragged through the mud, while the may­or makes some wild ac­cu­sa­tions for which he has no ev­i­dence, no proof and can­not sub­stan­ti­ate none of what he is say­ing,” he said.

Pren­tice claimed the al­le­ga­tions might be a de­lib­er­ate at­tempt to un­der­mine the de­part­ment. Last month, he raised con­cerns about the job se­cu­ri­ty of the cor­po­ra­tion’s work­ers, af­ter the coun­cil de­cid­ed to redi­rect work at the de­part­ment. He said there seemed to be an at­tempt to ob­tain lands at Christo­pher Samuel Dri­ve, where the cor­po­ra­tion’s garage is lo­cat­ed.

“The re­al is­sue to­day is the lands at Christo­pher Samuel Dri­ve. I want you all to hear me this morn­ing, the re­al is­sue ... if was the over­time, the oth­er di­vi­sions’ over­time would not be tak­en away.”

Pren­tice, who warned that the union would in­ten­si­fy its ac­tions un­less Al­leyne ad­dressed the work­ers’ con­cerns, added: “We de­mand­ing if the may­or in the next few days don’t apol­o­gise that he be re­moved.

“We de­mand­ing job se­cu­ri­ty as it re­lates to the work­ers’ jobs that are on the line. We de­mand­ing a full in­ves­ti­ga­tion as it re­lates to what the may­or say, cor­rup­tion in the Trans­port Di­vi­sion. We are de­mand­ing an in­ves­ti­ga­tion and that the re­port be made pub­lic.”

Ef­forts to get a re­sponse from Al­leyne to the claims made by Pren­tice were un­suc­cess­ful.