PowerGen,
union talks break down
By Anna-Lisa
Paul
Trinidad Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
01 21 07
A
PowerGen employee displays his placard during the
workers' protest yesterday at DHL Headquarters in
El Socorro.
Consumers
around the country have been put on alert that there
is no guarantee they will continue to receive a
safe and reliable electricity supply in the coming
weeks, as negotiations have broken down between
PowerGen and the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU).
The
breakdown came after a three-hour meeting between
PowerGen and OWTU officials at the DHL Headquarters
in El Socorro yesterday.
Attracting
curious stares from passers-by as they chanted and
clapped for an amicable and early end to negotiations
for the period 2006-2008, over 100 employees demonstrated
their support for the proposals put forward by the
union as they gathered outside the DHL building.
The
breakdown will affect over 300 workers from both
PowerGen and T&TEC.
A
member of the negotiating team said it was now necessary
to have third party intervention, which would involve
the Ministry of Labour. All outstanding issues which
have not been signed off on will be included in
the package which is being sent to the ministry.
The
Express has been informed that a separate meeting
has been set up between PowerGen and OWTU officials
to discuss the dismissal of four employees and the
locking out of 17 others last week.
Confirming
that OWTU president general, Errol McLeod, attended
yesterday's meeting, the source said workers would
continue to be mobilised in the coming weeks as
they "are most certainly not settling for less".
Asking
for 29 per cent at this time, the source stressed
that while they did not wish "to go below that
figure, the union's position is negotiable".
There
is a current benchmark figure of 15 per cent for
salaries at companies represented by the OWTU throughout
the country, and Express understands that officials
are being guided by these numbers.
Explaining
that most of PowerGen's recent problems were as
a result of contract labour being substituted for
the permanent workforce, sources claimed that PowerGen
plants and machinery demand highly skilled labourers
and this was lending itself to the creation of a
host of problems.
Trinidad
Express
Saturday,
January 20th 2007
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©2006 Trinidad Express. All Rights Reserved.
