21 SWMCOL workers fired

"START recycling plastic, stop recycling workers," was the cry of 21 former workers of the Solid Waste Management Co Ltd (SWMCOL) on Thursday.

The workers, who were laid off on Wednesday, protested at the SWMCOL office in downtown Port of Spain.

They accused the company of abuse, nepotism and unfair dismissal, claiming they were given three-month contracts and were made to work for up to eight months before being dismissed.

Steve Theodore, general secretary of the Industrial, General and Sanitation Workers Union, said the three-month contracts were issued without consultation with the union. He said SWMCOL had violated the collective agreement which says workers will become permanent after the probationary period of 90 days.

Theodore told Newsday he was not satisfied with the reasons given for the workers being fired. These include the uncertainty over the company’s future role after the passage of the pending Beverage Containers Bill, and the hiring of workers on short-term contracts on a "rotational" basis as a means of "spreading the pie all around the community."

He said the company’s true intention is to "replace decent, stable jobs with a workforce entirely made up of rotating, short-term contract workers.

When this is done, he said, employees will be robbed of fair benefits.

"Three- to six-month contracts make them unsure and unstable to provide for their families, get loans and have access to basic necessities in a sustainable fashion."

The ex workers said on Thursday they had been working under inhumane conditions "as slaves" for long hours, as if they were disposable trash.

Christal Matthews, a single parent of six children, told Newsday she felt betrayed after working with the company for almost two years as a sorter.

"I was expecting to get permanent. Christmas is just now, what I will do?"

Another ex-worker, who only identified himself as Steven, said he had sacrificed 28 years working under inhumane conditions, only to be dismissed unfairly without benefits.

He said he is contemplating legal action against the government.

In a release, SWMCOL said the workers were aware of the terms and conditions of their contracts "before and during the interview process, and signed to the terms of temporary employment." The company said the contracts were not renewed because of strategic changes in the area of recycling.