Moonilal: Toolum training will not bring offshore jobs

Training former Caroni workers to make toolum and sweet bread will not get them jobs on offshore gas platforms, Opposition MP Dr Roodal Moonilal stated. Pouring cold water over Government’s training initiative, Moonilal called for the permanent establishment of a Job Placement Agency at Caroni to secure and report on the job placement success of the training programme. He was speaking in the House of Representatives last Friday in the debate on the Caroni Vesting Bill. The bill was piloted by Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Christine Sahadeo. Moonilal noted that only 20 percent of the former daily-paid workers had received any type of training. “We must measure success by how many jobs you get, not how many certificates you give out,” he stated.

Moonilal criticised the minister for failing to distribute over 180 deeds promised to former Caroni employees who had already bought lands from Caroni, paid their monies, had legal agreements in hand, and were now being frustrated in realising their goal. He also condemned the PNM Government for promoting the violation of the fundamental rights of workers’ by exempting the new Sugar Manufacturing Company Ltd (SMCL) from the Industrial Relations Act. Moonilal revealed that the workers at the SMCL were largely contract workers recruited by four SMCL contractors and were exposed to exploitation without collective rights and trade union provisions.

Moonilal, a labour expert, stated that the bill violated the principles and rights enshrined in the Constitution under Section 4, which guarantees all citizens the right to “freedom of association” and “equality before the law and any State agency.” It also violated Conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to which Trinidad and Tobago is bound, he noted. Moonilal also took Sahadeo to task for what he described as the “obscene campaign of propaganda in the press” aimed at “fooling former Caroni workers into believing that the PNM Government cares about their future.” Moonilal accused Sahadeo of seeking to micro-manage Caroni in the same way that she did at First Citizens Bank, frustrating senior managers in the process.