Union boss declares war on Sando Corporation

PRESIDENT of the Contractors and General Trade Workers Union Owen Hinds, yesterday declared war on the San Fernando City Corporation, charging that all was not well between his union and management of the Corporation. Ironically, Hinds made his declaration during a ceremony at City Hall at which Corporation CEO Marlene Coudray handed letters of appointment  to 18 daily paid workers. “As far as I am concerned, the administration has declared war on us and we in turn declare war on them,” Hinds declared during the brief ceremony. He said the only reason he attended the function was because he did not want to disappoint the workers. He claimed without consulting the union, the administration scratched off the name of a painter who was on the list for letters of appointment. He also noted that his list had 19 persons.

“I don’t know where the CEO get 18 names, unless they scratch off somebody again. I fed up with the nice talk. These promotion letters should have been given out a long, long time ago.” Hinds recalled, that a decision was made that anyone with ten years service would be made permanent. “But it have people with 25 years service and up to now they are not permanent,” he complained. “We are going to move our head from the sand. We have been tolerating a lot and management has to stop violating the agreement. We want all workers made permanent in 21 days.” Hinds said an agreement had been reached to make watchmen and gatemen permanent, but to date persons in these positions had not been made permanent employees. He claimed the Corporation decided not to hire new staff, but someone was recently employed in the electrical department. He also claimed staff was being overworked.

In response to Hinds’ criticisms, Coudray said if Hinds had unresolved issues, he should have brought them to her attention before yesterday’s ceremony. Coudray said there were 522 permanent positions in the Corporation and it would have been “highly irresponsible” of her to give workers positions which did not exist on the permanent employment roster. Also speaking briefly was San Fernando Mayor Ian Atherly, who advised the workers to ensure they put a savings plan in place so they could reap the benefits of their hard work on retirement. Mayor Atherly left the ceremony while Hinds was speaking, saying he had another function to attend.