Train IV back on track as workers return

Full operations resumed at Atlantic LNG Train IV site in Point Fortin yesterday, seven days after a ten-week long strike was called off  when representatives of the protesting construction workers brokered a deal with their contractor Bechtel International. From as early as 6 am scores of construction workers, led by Garnet Thompson, one of their leaders during the strike, walked through the gates holding their hard hats. Only a few metres away from the gates, were the remnants of the abandoned strike-camp. Leader of the former striking workers, Ernest Thompson is reported ill and did not go to work yesterday.

Thompson said while he was relieved the strike had ended, he said at least two sub-contractors had informed several workers that their “services were no longer needed.” “We were told by workers that the contractors told them their services were no longer needed because they had not responded to their call-out for work during the strike,” Thompson said. “This is something we have to deal with,” he added, although he declined to reveal exactly how the matter would be handled. Meanwhile, the South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce has issued a press release expressing the Chamber’s relief the strike, which crippled work on ALNG’s Train IV project, had come to an end. It also expressed confidence that, with the project back on stream, this country would be able to regain its reputation as a “premier location for direct foreign investment.” The Chamber also praised Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Public Administration Minister Dr Lenny Saith, for their roles in bringing the strike to an end.

However, while work has resumed at Train IV, industry sources say they are keeping a close eye on similar protests by workers on the National Gas Company (NGC) 56-inch cross-country pipeline, especially after negotiations between the workers’ representatives led by Ernest Thompson and sub-contractors API/Bechtel International, broke down on Tuesday. There are fears the eight-week NGC impasse could drag on even longer than the ALNG stoppage.