OWTU in talks with PM

The proposal followed a meeting between the OWTU’s central executive led by president general Ancel Roget and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair.

The meeting focused on the restructuring of Petrotrin and lasted for approximately one and a half hours. It came almost a month after strike action was averted at Petrotrin.

The OWTU called off the strike after Petrotrin offered a five percent interim wage increase for the period 2011 – 2014, half of what was demanded by the union.

In a media release, the union noted that on December 29, it submitted a detailed proposal outlining the need for urgent restructuring of Petrotrin and that yesterday’s meeting was the, “first of a number of meetings to come, to deal with the issue.” “At today’s (yesterday) meeting, the Prime Minister proposed that a seven member Committee be established to deal with and make recommendations for the best option for restructuring of Petrotrin going forward. This Committee will determine the best model for the eventual restructuring of the state-owned oil company,” the OWTU release stated.

“The OWTU was invited to submit two members to sit on the proposed restructuring committee,” the union stated. Efforts to contact Roget for a comment yesterday were unsuccessful.

Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young and Minister of Planning and Development Camille Robinson-Regis were present at the meeting yesterday.