OWTU vows to keep eye on Alcoa

OWTU president general Errol McLeod made this promise during the annual Labour Day prize-giving function at the union’s Paramount Building headquarters, Circular Road, San Fernando on Saturday evening.

He said if the project was given final approval then Alcoa must “contribute tremendously to the well-being of the peoples of Trinidad and Tobago.”

At a breakfast meeting hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce at Cara Suites, Claxton Bay, last Friday, Alcoa president, Randall Overbey, stated that plans were in place for the construction of the US$1.5 billion aluminium smelter facility.

Overbey disclosed that detailed engineering, scooping and test drilling were expected to begin within the next few weeks. But a newspaper report yesterday said the Town and Country Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development had not approved lands at Cap-de-ville for industrial purposes.

However, Energy Minister Dr Lenny Saith yesterday said the aluminium smelter has not been delayed. Commenting on the report, Saith said he had no information which suggested the smelter project was delayed.

The minister explained there is a specific process involved in the construction of such a plant and that process is currently being undertaken. He said that process involves activities such as feasibility studies, soil tests and the preparation of the relevant documentation. Saith added that all of this was being done within the normal parameters and the information gathered from these activities would also be incorporated into the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project.

Meanwhile, McLeod, in Saturday’s address, also spoke of the importance of energy sector workers saying they were the backbone of the local economy that was presently being fuelled by buoyant oil prices.

“The economy of Trinidad and Tobago is growing at a tremendous rate and is fast becoming the envy of many other countries and this is due to the hard work and dedication of the workers in the energy sector,” he said.

And with energy sector workers’ contribution to the local economy in mind, he said the union was still locked in negotiations with state-owned oil company Petrotrin.

He said Petrotrin was continuing to treat with the negotiations with scant regard adding there was a lack of urgency in dealing with workers’ demands.

Both parties have held over 30 negotiation sessions with the company refusing to budge from its ten percent wage increase, while the union has countered with a 25 percent increase.