Petrotrin's board 'absconds' from meeting, says Roget

OILFIELD Workers’ Trade Union president general Ancel Roget said Petrotrin’s chairman and its board of directors "absconded" from a meeting earlier today.

Roget said Wilfred Espinet and board members were scheduled to meet with him and other union officials to discuss alternatives to the recently-announced closure of the refinery.

“The board did not show up, and that is a disrespect not only to Petrotrin workers but to the people of TT. They absented themselves. We are told that at this important and critical juncture of this country’s history, the chairman is out of the country,” Roget said.

He made the comments to the media at Beaumont Hill in Pointe-a-Pierre after meeting with Petrotrin officials at the company’s sports club.

Roget said the union met with Espinet and the board on August 28, when a commitment was made to have further discussions. The union hoped that several unanswered questions would have been properly addressed today, and reportedly submitted several important and significant several questions, to which Roget accused the company officials of responding with “one-liners.”

“What is the structure of the organisation going forward? They were not able to provide a proper answer to that. What is the volume of crude they took into consideration to be sold and to which market?” Roget said.

In a media release, Petrotrin’s corporate communications department, said today’s meeting was to discuss the implementation plan to exit the refinery business and the creation of new exploration and production and terminal businesses.

“Following that meeting the OWTU submitted a series of questions to the company for which it provided answers,” it said.