Army to train ex-sugar workers

EX-SUGAR workers of the defunct Caroni (1975) Ltd are to receive training by the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment (TTR) as part of the company’s restructuring programme. Of  the 7,500 daily paid sugar workers sent home last month on VSEP packages, approximately 2,000 have been listed for training at Teteron Barracks. In confirming this yesterday, Caroni’s Corporate Secretary Clarence Ram-bharat said that a joint technical assistance programme has been entered into with the Army. Ex-sugar workers are to be trained by Army personnel in ambulance driving and Paramedical expertise. Female ex-employees are also to receive training in catering at Teteron Barracks, Chaguaramas.

The programme is being co-ordinated by one of Caroni’s successor companies, Estate Management and Business Development Company, in conjunction with the TTR. The Army is currently engaged in re-designing Caroni’s three Technical and Field Engineering Departments at Usine Ste Madeleine, Brechin Castle and Woodford Lodge in Chaguanas for the conducting of various types of skills training for ex-sugar workers. In addition to the Army, courses will be conducted by the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Technology and Youth Training Employment Programme. Rambharat said that a Carbon Steel Welding training programme is one skill the company is initiating for an early start in the hope that by October next year, 2,000 ex-sugar workers would be certified. The role of the army, Rambarat said, was specifically for technical assistance and training. He dismissed reports that the army programme was a clandestine means of incorporating ex-sugar workers into a “boot camp” Army programme.