OWTU hits back at TTEC

RICHARDSON DHALAI

THE Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) has struck back at statements by TT Electricity Commission (TTEC) general manager Kelvin Ramsook at a parliamentary joint select committee meeting last week, where he said the commission was adequately staffed but experienced high levels of absenteeism, and its overtime bill was a whopping $120 million annually.

However, addressing a media conference at the union’s Paramount Building, Circular Road, San Fernando headquarters on Monday, vice president Peter Burke said the general manager had not addressed the “big ticket” item which could ensure the commission’s profitability. “The big ticket item in our expenses is gas,” he said before noting that all of NGC’S assets once belonged to TTEC.

“TTEC pays for the gas these down suppliers use. Our people in the control department have said that we have to manage an interface with the bulk suppliers and have been calling for individual dispatch which means we control how they use the gas, which machines they bring on and when. If you do that, you will have the more efficient machines working more and you only bring on the less efficient machines at peak.”

“The commission also needs to encourage people to use off-peak periods and that would save gas and save on replacing expensive plants. They’re not doing that. They have the technology – the new automated metering system and they’re not doing it. We have the metering infrastructure to have off-peak rates.

“If you deal with the gas situation, TTEC will be a profitable organisation.” Burke also dismissed Ramsook’s statements about adequate staffing saying there was a chronic shortage of linesmen, electricians, cable men, tree trimmers and administrative staff.

He said between 40-50 crews had been eliminated from the commission’s workforce, while its customer base had grown from approximately 200,000 in the 1980s to almost half million customers. An average crew comprises five workers. “There is no fat to trim at TTEC, we are understaffed, we are underfunded but we have been able to maintain an efficient supply of electricity and we are doing it by very little income by way of rates.”

Burke said a large chunk of TTEC’s expenditure was paying contractors for the same work which could be done by in-house staff at lower costs. He said a parallel workforce had been created using contract labour and which did not give value for money.

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"OWTU hits back at TTEC"

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