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Port workers in crisis! Point Lisas station workers face temporary layoffs after the station's roof collapsed, leaving them unpaid for nearly six months. With no resolution in sight, can the new Minister of Finance intervene?

The workers, who earn just $23 an hour, haven't received pay increases in over a decade. Bureaucracy is delaying repairs, and tensions are rising. Will their plea for help be heard?

#PortWorkers #Layoffs #TrinidadNews
Transcript
00:00Three days after Port and Maritime Service workers at the Port of Spain says station were temporarily suspended and rehired the following day,
00:09former workers attached to the Point Lisa says station reached out to TV6 News for help,
00:15having received temporary layoff letters due to the collapse of the roof of the station.
00:20Contacted for comment, Port and Maritime Services Chairman Michael Anneset says,
00:25while he empathises with the workers, the situation is out of the company's control.
00:31The customs themselves would have shut down the operations, not the company, let me make it clear.
00:37OK, and we have written to the Point Lisa's management, who we are contracted to to supply the labour for the station.
00:49And like the workers and like the company and like Point Lisa's, they are not aware when they're going to repair the roof to reopen this station.
01:03And therefore, there is nothing that we can do in those circumstances.
01:10The incident occurred on January 22nd, and PMSL Point Lisa's workers say it's been 24 weeks since they were last paid.
01:19We are hoping to raise that issue with the new Minister of Finance to see if he can use his office to get the thing up and running.
01:29And because, I mean, and I understand what the workers are saying, but look how long that roof would have collapsed.
01:38All right, there's some steel beam on something, and we can't fix that yet.
01:44Because of bureaucracy, with the coming into being with the new Minister of Finance,
01:50I am hoping to have the conversation with him to bring it to his attention,
01:55to see how soon they could fix the shed so it could be up and running.
02:02I understand that the tender went out and they selected a contractor to do the work.
02:07The workers further lament that they work for mere $23 an hour and have not had increments in over a decade.
02:15On Friday, workers attached to the Port of Spain's cessation took action in protest of their terms and conditions,
02:21which resulted in them being promptly suspended.
02:25They resumed the duties on Tuesday.
02:27Just like the people in Point Lisa who say that they can get wage increases,
02:31which is a fact for an extended period of time,
02:34because we operate at the same rates that we would have gotten in 1995, which is 30 years ago.
02:43The promise was, ma'am, that we will try to find a creative way.
02:47We will engage the Minister because, just like them, we are going through the financial and economic ringer
02:56because we haven't received any increases for 30 years.
03:00Brunessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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