MTS protest outside Whitehall

TIWU president, Roland Sutherland, said Works Minister Colm Imbert and the MTS board put forward a proposal to restructure the company but he claimed there has been no dialogue with workers on the matter. Government is a major shareholder in MTS.

Sutherland further disclosed, “I have reliable information that there’s going to be an attempt to take away workers’ job security and offer them contract work with little or no terms and conditions in a new CEPEP type of arrangement. We understand that there’s a plan to offer the workers VSEP (voluntary separation of employment package) by September.

“But we don’t want them to work out their plan and then tell us to rubber stamp it.

“That will not happen. If they fail to dialogue with us on the restructuring of the company, we will meet with the National Trade Union Centre (NATUC) to organise more resistance.”

Sutherland and a small group of MTS workers turned up in front of Whitehall from 9.30 am and waited all day to see Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

“On July 12 last year, Manning came and spoke to us during a protest right here in front of Whitehall on the same restructuring plan for MTS,” Sutherland said.

Yesterday the union sent a letter to Manning through one Mr Beckles from Whitehall stating that they wanted to talk to him.

“But we didn’t get on to him. Just before 3 pm, however, I had a telephone conversation with Works Minister Colm Imbert. Imbert said he saw us protesting and had a conversation with the deputy chairman of MTS and asked him if he spoke with workers on the restructuring plan. “Mr Imbert said the deputy chairman said he had no dialogue with workers because they were waiting on approval from him (Imbert) to do so. Imbert told me he was going to instruct the MTS board to hold discussions with us within a week or two,” Sutherland said. Not satisfied with that, however, the union waited several more hours to see Manning but failed to meet him.