MP Lee – Government needs to come clean on Petrotrin right now!
As Member of Parliament for Pointe a Pierre I am calling on the Government to come clean on the future of Petrotrin on behalf of the hundreds of my constituents who are employed at the state oil company and the thousands more from across our nation who earn a livelihood from this organization.
In the past 24 to 48 hours there has been a significant amount of rumours circulating throughout our nation in respect to government’s restructuring of the company which has not only caused great concern and made workers fearful for their jobs but these rumours have remained unaddressed as well as undenied by this Government.
Reports from the workforce has emerged that at both Santa Flora and Pointe a Pierre offices employees have been barred from accessing certain aspects on their computers, from using printers while USB ports have all been locked down to prevent the copying of files.
These “unusual” operations have been compounded or worsened by some employees indicating that retrenchment packages have been prepared for everyone and from Monday they will be locked out while termination letters would be issued on Tuesday. Discussions in the public space has also emerged which describes efforts by Government to deploy the regiment to protect the refinery in fear of reprisals from employees as of a result of the actions this administration intends to undertake.
Government needs to come clean and tell the population; “Are you planning to send home thousands of workers and shut down Petrotrin? Is this shut down due to a sell out and registration of a new company called Trinidad and Tobago Upstream Downstream Energy Company?”
Government must be reminded that Petrotrin does not belong to Rowley, Imbert or any member of the government but is wholly and solely the property of the people of this nation. Therefore the secrecy and any possible plans to sell out our “crown economic jewels” accompanied by plans to jeopardise thousands of jobs would be one of the most atrocious acts against our citizens.
David Lee
Pointe a Pierre MP and UNC Deputy Political Leader