224 former Caroni employees graduate after re-training

WHEN GOVERNMENT implemented the Plan to Restructure Caroni (1975) Limited the aim was to create opportunities for employees “to take their rightful place in the changing economic and corporate landscape.” “By pulling you  away from the labour of the cane fields and sugar factories  the Government’s view was that you should be able to interface with technology and the tools of the country’s economic progress which are so evident among us,” according to Senator Christine Sahadeo, Minister in the Ministry  of Finance. At the time, the Minister was delivering the feature address at the Graduation Ceremony of 224 former employees of Caroni (1975) Limited, who have been exposed to 240 contact hours during a period of 12 weeks “so that they would be encouraged to empower themselves, to start afresh, and to rethink their lifestyle, values, attitudes and disposition towards work and the economy.”

The Function was held over the weekend  at the Centre Pointe Mall Auditorium, Ramsaran Street, Chaguanas, with Govern-ment funding the Retraining Programme that is managed by the Employers’ Consultative Association  in collaboration with the representative Caroni Trade Unions. Senator Sahadeo stressed that as  part of the  Restructuring Programme, “It was imperative that the former employees would be given  the opportunity for counselling, social support and training and retraining, and it is more than obvious now that we are keeping our promise in that direction.” The Minister stressed that the  Government had taken a vow “to continue its support for all the citizens of the country to achieve social progress and economic stability.” She  was pleased to note that at the Graduation Function “there were many more women Graduates than on the first occasion and this was  indeed an indication that they were prepared to be retrained to be better equipped for the job market.”

Senator Sahadeo noted that there were 71 Women Graduates out of a total of 224 that were exposed to the Food Preservation Course and she congratulated them “for their initiative and resourcefulness  in improving their self esteem and self confidence so that they could  face the challenges in the world of work today.” Senator Satish Ramroop, Minister of State in the Minis-try of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education, said that the Retraining Programme  was designed to “offer flexibility in employment access and provide the necessary skilled resources to meet the demands of specific sectors as well as to address the unemployment challenges which must be viewed as critical.” He underlined the theme of the Project as “Re-engineering Individual Econo-mic Platforms,”  and said that “we are creating an environment in which citizens are encouraged to better equip themselves for the job market.”