Protest at Whitehall

Workers at Maintenance Training and Security Ltd (MTS) together with their union, the Transport and Industrial Workers Union (TIWU), picketed the Prime Minister’s Whitehall office yesterday, calling on government to “pay MTS the millions owed to them” and “stop undermining the organisation’s labour with VSEP contract work and CEPEP.” The protest arose after the company lost 15 work contracts at government primary schools, causing 60 workers to lose their jobs. The irate workers’ shouts rang out for more than two hours yesterday, before acting Prime Minister Joan Yuille-Williams asked to meet with union representatives.

After a lengthy discussion, Darren Samuel, acting president of the union, said Yuille-Williams assured that all MTS workers would not be displaced and the money owed to them would be paid. “The acting PM said PM Manning, before leaving, had called on all ministers in the various ministries to ensure that outstanding monies due to MTS, over $100 million, is paid,” Samuel told the workers. He said Yuille-Williams also assured that when the PM returns from Cuba, he will meet with the the union. “Not a worker must go from MTS. MTS must grow and have a solid economic foundation to provide sustainable employment. It was created to maintain and secure government buildings and institutions,” Samuel said.