A contractor with the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) has said his workers have been stressed, waiting in limbo for an official response from its acting chairman Marilyn Michael on their job status.

In a phone interview with Newsday, the contractor, who requested anonymity, said his workers have been calling him constantly for an explanation.

“I tell them my hands are up. I have no idea. I have been calling constantly trying to get an explanation…no response has been forthcoming.”

He described them as desperate.

Last week, a letter signed by CEPEP CEO Keith Eddy, dated January 12, said the number of teams under each contractor would be reduced from three to one, effective January 17. Each team comprises ten workers.

It also said until the names of the retained workers were submitted, no workers would be paid.

Since then, CEPEP contractors have been calling on the company and the government to explain why the instruction was given.

The letter was sent from the e-mail account of Jeneil Browne of CEPEP’s legal department.

[caption id="attachment_936969" align="alignnone" width="1024"] CEPEP workers on the job at Plaisance Road, Laventille on Tuesday. - Photo by Sureash Cholai[/caption]

Responding to questions about the letter during a Senate sitting on Tuesday, Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Kazim Hosein said the affected workers would be reintegrated into the programme and denied reports of staff cuts.

"Recently three contractors' teams comprising 30 workers each were reduced to ten," he said. "These three teams do not include the whole of CEPEP.

"This resulted in 60 employees being temporarily displaced. We expect, as this happens within CEPEP from time to time, that all 60 workers will be reintegrated into the programme."

The contractor described Hosein’s response as “hogwash,” adding it was a frivolous attempt to explain why the company had made the cuts.

“I am at a loss,” he said. “Nothing (Hosein) says is making sense.”

The contractor said it could not be true that there were no cuts if 60 people were at home without pay.

Hosein said these people would be integrated elsewhere, the contractor pointed out, but the letter did not indicate why the workers were released and did not mention that it was temporary and that they would be reabsorbed elsewhere.

The contractor said he wrote to Eddy and Browne for an explanation but had not received a response. He said he spoke to a CEPEP official this week for guidance on how to prepare time sheets for his workers.

“I told them we have it on public record that the minister said people have not been cut. I was told that is a matter for Operations.”

He said when he contacted the Operations Department, he was told to go with what was written.

He said a few CEPEP workers were planning to protest on Thursday but decided against it after Hosein’s statement in the Senate.