OWTU bids to run Augustus Long Hospital

In addition to a proposal to lease the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) has put on the table a plan to run the Augustus Long Hospital, which is scheduled for closure when Petrotrin winds up operations on November 30.

The plan was put on the table during the first of seven days of discussions among the union, board and management of the company, as mandated by the Industrial Court, to arrive at the best resolution to the closure of the company and for workers to get their just due. The meeting was held at the Petrotrin staff club on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday, when representatives of the board and company were scheduled to make a full presentation of the pension and medical plans to the union.

After the first day of marathon talks, OWTU president general Ancel Roget said closing the hospital would leave retirees and workers now being separated from the company vulnerable, with no medical plan after two years. This, he said, would place an added burden on the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA), which is already struggling to cope with adequate bed space, shortage of drugs and staff for the high volume of patients who seek its services.

He said the union would transform the hospital into a premier medical facility offering premier medical care at a reduced cost.

He said already the company is “removing sick patients from their beds out of the hospital because they want to close by December 1, 2018. Their concern is not for the ailing, their concern is to meet a date.” Roget said the more the union delves into the closure of the company the more it realises it was a kneejerk reaction by Dr Keith Rowley’s government. Roget said the government was either misled or not told the real implications and cost of closing the company and separating the workers, and what it has handed to the workers is inadequate and inferior.

The discussions, he said, were fruitful and the union got a commitment from the other two parties that they were authorised to answer questions and provide information, unlike previous meetings. With this commitment, Roget said, the union, in keeping with the court’s guidelines, which ruled that the company acted in bad faith, wants to know what criteria are being used for the rehiring process for the new companies in which Petrotrin’s assets will be vested. Approval for the vesting of these assets into Heritage Petroleum, Paria Fuel Trading Company and Guaracara Refining was passed in the Senate on Tuesday without support from the Opposition and Independent benches. Saying the company is seeking work permits for certain people, Roget is questioning when they were hired and whether the positions for which they were hired were advertised. Additionally, he said, a significant number of the jobs workers did have been advertised by different names, and believes “something is wrong with that.”