As deadline approaches,
4,000 accept Caroni VSEP

More than 3,800 workers at Caroni (1975) Limited have applied for the enhanced VSEP packages offered by the State-owned company.

In an interview yesterday, Caroni’s Human Resources Manager, Selwyn Bhajan, said the figure represented both daily and monthly paid employees from all sectors of the company. He said workers submitting completed application forms had steadily increased as the April 3 deadline approached, and the company would begin distributing acceptance letters by April 11.

Asked about an advertisement appearing in the daily newspapers stating that some 1,000 persons would be required by a restructured Caroni, Bhajan said the number was based on the specific manpower needs of the company to produce approximately 75,000 tonnes of cane per year.

He declined to say how vacancies would be filled, indicating only that the decision on who would remain with the company would be based on a revision of those persons accepting VSEP packages.

Bhajan also admitted that the 2003 crop was “a little behind schedule” with periodic shut-downs affecting sugar production at both the Usine Ste Madeleine and Brechin Castle factories.

And asked about the one-week ultimatum given by cane farmers over mounds of rotting canes in scale yards and at factories, Bhajan said the issue was being addressed by Caroni’s CEO, William Washington, and members of the Operations Department.

Efforts to contact Washington proved futile as he was said to be at a meeting in Port-of-Spain.