WASA man plans protest

EMPLOYEE of the Water and Sewerage Authority, Bernard De Freitas, says that he intends to begin a one-man protest in front of WASA’s  St Joseph offices from today, to highlight the grief he feels over the Authority’s handling of his medical situation and employment status within the company.

He is also calling on Public Utilities Minister Lenny Saith to look into the Health and Safety standards at the Authority, especially the problems that are affecting the authority’s process plant operators. In an interview with Newsday yesterday, De Freitas, 37, explained that he suffered major respiratory problems and had to undergo two surgeries and the possibility of another one for damage caused by constant inhalation of chlorine at WASA’s process plant. De Freitas, who has worked with WASA for 14 years, explained that as a process plant operator he is in constant contact with dangerous chemicals, one of which is a powdered form of chlorine called HTH, which has been identified as the cause for large turbinate to develop and block his nasal passage. This has caused De Freitas to develop  serious breathing problems which “cause unsatisfactory oxygen saturation in his blood.” He said that sometimes when he is asleep his breathing stops, since his oxygen level drops when he is asleep. He was sent to a sleep therapist, who advised that another surgery be done to remove the remainder of the nasal blockage. De Freitas explained that the problem first surfaced in 1999, when he realised that he was having breathing problems. He said he visited ENT Specialist Dr Tilluckdharry at the Port-of-Spain ENT Clinic, who informed him that he had nasal blockage and needed surgery to remove it.

Following the surgery in February 2001, a letter was issued advising WASA to relocate him to a chemical-free environment. In May, 2001, De Freitas was advised that another surgery was necessary. About two weeks before the surgery, De Freitas was relocated to the Water Loss Department. However, when he returned to work following his second surgery, he was informed by the department’s manager that he (the manager) did not want any “sick” people working in his department. De Freitas was moved to Maintenance Operations in St Clair, where he was once again thrown into a department to work within close proximity to chemicals. He said that because of his continued health problems, the St Clair area manager wrote a letter to the Authority asking that they move De Freitas and another employee with a similar health problem to a safer environment, but no response was issued by WASA. After waiting about a month for a reply, De Freitas began to protest in front of WASA’s office in St Joseph. In January, 2003, the Human Resource Manager and Deputy General Manager of HR met with him and informed him that the company did not have any vacancies for him to fill, however, they would place him in a temporary position within the company until something permanent came up.

He was also informed that his stay in the department would depend on whether the managers of the departments would accept him there. He was then placed to work in the emergency department, where he is presently employed with no job classification and no assignments being given to him. He explained that he went so far as to obtain a diploma in occupational health and safety from the Cipriani Labour College, which did not assist him in getting a position within the company. He said he is reminded daily by the Emergency Department Manager that he was not wanted there and that there was nothing for him to do there. Asked whether he feared losing his job, De Freitas said, “there isn’t much more for me to do right now. I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this. They are treating me real bad, as though I am nobody, after I have given them 14 years of my life. “WASA is not going to just get up and realise that they are being unfair and start treating me different, I have to get up and do this on my own. I am the one who suffered here, and now they are treating me as though I am the problem.” De Freitas says that he has been drawing strength from his friends and family and especially his two daughters aged eight and one and a half. He said that he will begin his protest today and intends to stay in front of WASA until his situation is dealt with in a professional manner.