Daniel: Petrotrin closure will kill sports

FORMER TT Olympian and track and field record holder Alvin Daniel says he is bracing for an "inevitable fall-out" from the closure of Petrotrin refinery as it relates to every-day quality of life, sporting opportunities and the future of TT's youth.

Daniel, who set a national outdoor 4x400m record at the 1992 Summer Olympics, which has since been broken, was one of over 5,000 former workers whose employment at Petrotrin was effectively terminated last month.

A senior stores assistant, Daniel began working at Trintoc as an apprentice in 1987, before the company merged with Trintopec to form Petrotrin in 1993.

Over the years, Petrotrin has financed several sports teams internally, as well as external sporting events as a main corporate sponsor. The company also had its own club with a number of branches, which excelled in various sports, including football, basketball, cricket, hockey and tennis.

"It's (Petrotrin's closure) going to kill sports in Trinidad and Tobago," Daniel predicted in an interview with Newsday.

"Let me tell you something, plenty successful athletes that we have in TT, especially from the South area, at some point they would have passed through either Trintoc or Petrotrin and had some kind of help, you could say, in order to further their ability.

However, apart from the Petrotrin's funding and sponsorship of sport, the closure has meant job losses for hundreds of young workers.

"And, you know what they say about idle hands," Daniel said.

"I mean, what are we asking the young people? We are asking them to go to school, come out with their education and to get a proper job and then when you do that, you come and shut down a company on them," Daniel said.

He, however, offered a potential solution, at least for some of the younger ex-workers.

"It's a state-owned company they closed down. If we're serious about the country and the kids, I think it's a good opportunity to absorb them into the police service."

Daniel also expressed concern for those with circumstances similar to his own, who have numerous expenses and obligations, which cannot be fully covered by the severance payments.

"Remember, we have house, we have kids and bills. Severance will only take you that far. By time you pay for your house and those things, you know what is that?

"Some of these fellas and ladies have kids and thing. Some of them now gone into their mortgage; who doing their studies; who have children in university; who have children away. What message are we really sending in this country?

He said switching to similar jobs within the industry is impractical as it will only serve to deteriorate their quality of life.

"When you check the wages they are offering (outside Petrotrin), I think it's totally ridiculous. Totally ridiculous. I can't see them offering people $18 an hour and that kind of thing. I mean, come on. We have house and thing to pay for, you going back to work for $18 an hour in the same industry? Something has to be wrong.

"It's going to affect the quality of living, but not only that; it's going to affect the businessmen on the street. The average person on the street is going to feel it.

According to Daniel, many people have a misconception that Petrotrin employees are all overpaid and do little work.

"You see, people need to understand, that industry we operate in is a very dangerous industry. If you go to work one morning, you not sure to go back home at night. People need to understand why we have things the way we have it. Why we have the Augustus Long (Hospital) there; why we have a fire department.

Daniel is also worried about the dangers of an unattended refinery.

"Not only that. We're working in an industry where you need to have people with experience in there. You're not going to hire back any and everybody to have the place running. I mean, oh gosh. We have to think safety and we have to think about TT – our citizens."

He said the closure will come to the disadvantage of the every-day Trinidadian, but more so to the communities of South-West Trinidad.

"We are going to further kill Point Fortin. When Trintoc had moved away from Point Fortin, Point Fortin was like a ghost town for quite a while. Not until the LNG came back on stream. When you shut down Trinmar and these places, what message are we really sending? Are we serious about crime in the country? Because I am telling you, that is only going to escalate the crime situation more in the country.

"When you have frustrated people outside there going to lose their house, their car, going to pull back their children from university. Come on man. This is not about politics. This is about a lot more than that. These are people's lives they are playing with."