Espinet: Employees will be treated fairly

ALL the employees will be treated in a “reasonable, equitable and fair manner,” Petrotrin chairman Wilfred Espinet said yesterday.

Espinet did not give specifics, despite uncertainty and unease among workers who are now unsure of their fate after the state oil company made a surprise announcement yesterday that it would close the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery after 101 years of operation.

This, he said, is to help the company control its spiralling costs and service its $12 billion debt.

Over 2,500 workers will be affected by the closure, and all 1,700 refinery workers will be terminated, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

Newsday understands that workers are still waiting on clear information from their superiors on how severance will be offered.

Even though exploration and production activities will be the company’s core business, workers in that section are still worried about their fate. The refinery loses nearly $2 billion annually.