Where was UNC when TSTT offered VSEP?

THE EDITOR: Almost one year ago to the day, TSTT offered its entire staff a VSEP option. Several workers opted for the programme.

This was to prepare the company for the loss of its monopoly status and competition. Has TSTT closed down? Did anyone ask the TSTT board to present its restructuring plans to the employees for approval or just to be seen before they could consider or accept the VSEP offer? Is it that the ATSWTU is more aware of its obligations to its members than was the CWU? Did NATUC and NUGFW’s Giuseppi and Cabrera utter one word of protest in defence of TSTT employees? If not, why not? Because CWU is the enemy and in local parlance “it good for them; it serve them damn right” as they not in NATUC”? Now in 2003 the same PNM Government offers to all the workers at Caroni (1975) Ltd, VSEP, look at the reaction, eh? Religious leaders, union leaders, Giuseppi and Cabrera can’t stop crying. It’s discrimination. It’s politics. They want to get rid of the union. They want to give the land to their friends and associates.

The principle of any VSEP has always been that it’s offered to all the workers of an enterprise, with the company reserving the right to reject the acceptance from any worker in the interest of the enterprise. A retrenchment formula is now standard in any collective agreement. That formula has been followed and improved upon by 30 percent. If as reported in one newspaper, one worker says even with the enhancement he would take home only $44,000 as compared to a monthly paid employee, then he has struck the nail on the head. He works for only six months of the year whereas the other fellow works all year. While the $44,000 cannot be expected to last him either till his retirement or for the rest of his life, what was he accustomed doing for the other six months during the off-crop season all the years before?

Politicians and union leaders are asking the company to outline all its plans for the future of the company to the workers who are going off on the VSEP. That is so obvious a red herring it does not even deserve any comment. All I would ask is: will these retrenched workers be in any way responsible under the company ordinance as will be the board and directors for any accountability of the company’s finances? The VSEP also includes an offer of land to those accepting if they are so interested as some additional acreage to that of existing cane farmers would still be required to produce the amount of cane needed to meet Caroni’s 75,000-ton sugar target. What more can workers ask for when the company’s plans are so detailed to someone like me who has never had any connection to Caroni?

If unfortunately a worker cannot read and despite all that has been said he still needs more information or clarification, like in the case of TSTT, the company has people not only willing to explain but I hope like at TSTT to give such a worker how much he is entitled to get and what could be done with it until he decides whether he wants to take up any land offer the company has made to produce either sugarcane or other food crops. I hope, Sir, that this letter could help some of the workers in making their decision despite what union leaders and opposition politicians are doing, with the hope that the offer will fail and that more workers will be sent home without the additional 30 percent so that for their own selfish interests and gain, they could have a political platform to exploit to stir up trouble.

LYNDON CARMICHAEL
Diamond Vale