Trinidad & Tobago: Over 4,500 workers to be laidoff following Petrotrin’s Point-a-Pierre refinery closure

The Trinidad & Tobago government earlier this week revealed that the compensation package for workers being laid off, following the government’s decision to shut down Petrotrin’s state-owned Point-a-Pierre refinery, could be more than TT$1 billion (one US$160 million).

Energy minister Franklin Khan, speaking in the Senate, said while he would not want to provide an accurate figure, the workers’ representatives, the Oilfields Workers Trade Union and the Petrotrin board of directors will meet on Tuesday next week to discuss severance packages for the affected workers.

“I personally said the packages will cost upward of TT$1 billion (one US$160 million) and if you take the collective agreement and you do some basic calculations, it is obviously more than 1 billion.

“But the government and the board of Petrotrin are willing to sit down with the union and go through all the numbers and possibly offer some enhancement to that package,” he told legislators.

Last month, the government announced that it would be closing down the oil refinery after indicating that it was losing an estimated 2 billion dollars (US320 million) annually.

The Keith Rowley administration said that more than 2,500 workers would be laid off as a result and Khan told the Senate that the figure was 4,700.

“The severance packages and the benefits therein are currently being negotiated by the board of Petrotrin and the Oilfield Workers Trade Union, and a meeting is carded for tomorrow. So, in a sense, I wouldn’t want to pre-empt or prejudge what package they will come up with.

“As to the number of employees that will be impacted, the total number of permanent employees that will be impacted from the Petrotrin restructuring is approximately 3,500 permanent workers and approximately 1200 non-permanent workers,” he told the Senate. -(CMC)