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  • 4 weeks ago
Job cuts are on the table for short-term workers at the Port of Spain City Corporation. The confirmation comes from Mayor Chinua Alleyne, who is calling on the government to increase the Corporation's budgetary allocations, as he says the Corporation will not be able to carry out basic sanitation and other services as early as February next year. Rynessa Cutting reports.
Transcript
00:00The corporation does not receive the increase that you are asking. What happens next?
00:06God help us.
00:08The UNC has won and Port of Spain has lost.
00:12It's the summation of Port of Spain Mayor Chinua Lane,
00:16as the corporation has seen significant decreases in key line items for fiscal 2026.
00:22Among them, the budget for garbage collection and scavenging, which has been decreased by about 38%.
00:29The allocation that we have is not sufficient for us to pay to sustain the service for the entire financial year.
00:39And so it means that at some point, the money will be done
00:42and we will not be able to pay somebody to pick up the garbage tomorrow.
00:47The mayor estimates that situation could arise as early as February next year.
00:53And given that the corporation is home to the capital city,
00:57a lane is warning that the fallout will be significant.
01:01We have some significant concerns about our ability to deliver the required service for Carnival,
01:08not just because our budget has been significantly reduced,
01:12but also because for part of the city, we would engage the CPEP company to do sanitation services in part of the city.
01:20We would engage our own staff to do clean-up services in some parts of the city,
01:26and that will be funded primarily via overtime.
01:29And then we would also use a short-term program and engage persons on a two-day or three-day basis,
01:36what have you, to also do sanitation services.
01:39All of those budgets have been reduced, and the CPEP company has been closed down,
01:44so that we as yet are not sure how we are going to be able to cope with the responsibilities that we have for Carnival 2026.
01:53The corporation's overtime budget has been cut by a whopping 44 percent,
01:58while the short-term employment budget has been cut by roughly 29 percent,
02:04in a city that does not sleep.
02:06Are job cuts at all a consideration?
02:09Yes. Job cuts are definitely a consideration, unfortunately.
02:15It is not our wish, particularly in the climate,
02:19where so many people across the country and so many people in Port of Spain have lost their jobs overnight.
02:26Our hope is to be able to provide as much relief as we can for as long as we can.
02:33Alain is urging the government to revise the allocations for the Port of Spain City Cooperation.
02:39A revised allocation because if the midterm comes after our allocation is exhausted,
02:46what are we going to do?
02:47If our allocation is exhausted in February and the midterm comes in March or April or May,
02:55then what are we to do for those three months?
02:57We can't wait two or three months to pick up garbage in the city.
03:03That's just not possible.
03:05The Port of Spain City Cooperation has been allocated $210 million for fiscal 2026,
03:13a decrease of just over $700,000 compared to 2025.
03:19Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
03:22Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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