Sugar workers sign VSEP petition

SOME 2,500 sugar workers have signed a petition in support of legal proceedings being filed by former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj to put a hold on the Voluntary Separation Employment Package (VSEP) before the April 3 deadline.

Maharaj, political leader of National Team Unity, revealed this yesterday when he addressed a handful of mostly daily paid workers at the Field Engineering Brechin Castle Car Park, in Couva. He said this was half the amount of names needed to file legal proceedings. “I have already drafted the legal proceedings. Some way has to be found to stop the VSEP but I have a problem and the problem is this  — the function of the union. I do not want to get into a fight with anybody but I have a duty to the sugar workers,” Maharaj said. “If the union does not come forward and join in this legal battle we are going to file the proceedings if the sugar workers show their support in a petition signed by more than half of the sugar workers which is about 5,000.”

Maharaj said the manner in which Government was handling the Caroni VSEP was totally unlawful. He said the Government had shown contempt for the rights of workers and based on what Agriculture Minister John Rahael has said a decision has already been taken to close down Caroni. He said the VSEP was not a voluntary package but a means of putting the sugar workers under duress. Maharaj said the Government has not given any guarantees to workers on future employment, or the extent of pension benefits and the criteria to acquire the agricultural lands they had been promised. Maharaj accused the Government of trying to hoodwink the sugar workers to get rid of them. Some 9,000 sugar workers have been offered VSEP and so far 2,500 have accepted.