Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) workers have said management was holding them to ransom over their cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) payment after a promise to pay it by December 20.
On Tuesday morning the workers gathered in front of the company’s compound in Savonetta demanding answers as to why the company reneged on the commitment to pay almost a week before Christmas.
Kevin Arjoon, a worker, said management agreed a couple of weeks ago that the payment would be made, but after a meeting with the representative union, the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), TCL pulled back on its promise.
“The reason the workers are here this morning is to request information based on COLA payments owed to them for the last seven years.
“Management would have met with the workers and told us that they have the money to pay, but they just want to settle some stuff with the union to get the money out to the workers,” he said.
Arjoon added that on Monday they learnt TCL would not be making the COLA payment and no definite explanation was given, which has left workers upset and worried because they have outstanding bills to pay.
He insisted that the action taken on Tuesday morning was not any type of industrial action or protest but rather a collective effort by the workers to get a reasonable explanation for TCL’s refusal to pay.
Arjoon said, “Management insisted that they will not be paying the workers again in the timeframe that they gave, which was December 20. So the workers, after hearing that, came out today to meet somebody from senior management to hear perspective on why they broke their promise to the workers.
“The workers are not refusing to work, they are not protesting, they are just here for information.”
OWTU president general Ancel Roget told Newsday TCL was not respecting the laws and the collective bargaining agreement and called for an immediate resolution.
He said TCL’s recent increase in cement prices was its way of surviving and ensuring profitability, but it was doing it dishonestly and on the backs of hard-working individuals. TCL announced an eight-15 per cent increase in prices from December 20.
“The money that they are talking about is not new money, and it is not negotiation money that is to come, it is money already worked for, dating back to 2014, that the company refuses to pay.
“While that is happening, and the company is benefiting from an increase, workers have not been paid. The action by the workers to demonstrate to the public the insensitivity, the callousness, and the disregard for the rule of law and the disregard for the collective agreement of the TCL was an accurate demonstration to represent their issue."
Roget said there was an initial intention on the part of TCL to pay the outstanding COLA but alleged that after a meeting some people in the company’s management team interrupted the process.
He said the industrial-relations climate at TCL has been in disarray for a long time and vowed further action would be taken if the matter was not resolved soon.
Roget sa
