UNC-led Sangre Grande council: 16 contracts withdrawn in 'rules-bound process'

No one was fired from the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation says chairman of the corporation’s Personnel Committee, councillor for Sangre Grande North West, Nassar Hosein, who defended the withdrawal of contracts approved for 16 people as a “transparent, constitutional, rules-bound process”.

The employment contracts were withdrawn on March 31 during a special statutory meeting. On March 18 at a personnel committee meeting, the Sangre Grande Council unanimously approved the recruitment of 16 people for six months, and the decision was ratified at a statutory meeting on March 25. Twelve were employees who had worked at the corporation for four to eight years, and four were new employees.

The six United National Congress (UNC) members voted to send home the short-term contract workers, while the five People’s National Movement (PNM) members voted against the move, and the corporation’s chairman, Anil Juteram abstained.

It is alleged that, upon realising those hired were not UNC supporters, a special meeting was called and a vote was taken to rescind their employment. However, in a release on Thursday night, Hosein said the personnel committee were not given the names of the people the administration selected or the results of the interviews.

He added that the administration had no power to make such a selection as it was “the committee’s lawful function.”

Yet, the 12 continuous employees have sought legal counsel and expect a pre-action protocol letter to be served to the corporation and the council on Tuesday.

Asked for a comment, UNC PRO Dr Kirk Meighoo, he said, “We await word of any letter. None has been received so far as I have been informed. Furthermore, we can’t see any possible grounds for any such letter, since their story to the media is false. There have not been any terminations or firings of anyone.”

One source at the corporation said that the fact that the employees’ contracts had expired was not relevant because the new ones were approved before being rescinded.

“Some people have been on contract eight years now. So we’re talking about someone who is working, they get a good appraisal, they go through the interview process the same as the whole of TT, and they were re-selected. Everybody in local government does the same thing. The only time you don’t get called back is if you have a bad appraisal.”

They added that some people had positions that required making long-term development plans and programmes for the corporation. For example, they said one employee who did development for small businesses in the region had a master's degree and was on contract with no benefits. She won competitions with the Inter-American Development Bank, the Canadian High Commission and got millions of dollars in funding for the corporation from international agencies.

“You’re telling me after you go through all this work, you’ll be replaced with someone with no experience? You can’t come and hire someone for a month and expect to see growth in that month. Some goals are two- and three-year plans!”

Hosein said the reason for the action was to create a “transparent, constitutional, rules-bound process” for allocating temporary employment.

“The majority team simply ensured that the proper, transparent legal process will be followed in hiring temporary employees going forward, now that previous contracts have been completed.”

He said he knew of several qualified people who applied for the positions but were not contacted for interviews.

“The exclusion of multiple applicants from the process is a cause for alarm about the integrity of the entire procedure adopted by the administration headed by the CEO.

“While a cabal of friends and family are being protected by the old status quo, well-qualified and very deserving persons from Sangre Grande itself are being denied a fair and transparent chance at temporary employment in these very difficult times.”

He said some people, some of whom were not from Sangre Grande, had held "temporary" positions for ten years and were being paid up to $12,000 per month. With this move they were “putting an end” to the corruption that existed under the PNM.

“We will not be deterred by cheap politicking by those seeking to protect their turf. The UNC councillors at the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation will continue to demand transparency, accountability and the establishment of sound policies and processes in the management of the resources of the corporation.”

Despite the statement, on several TV programmes since, Juteram said the 12 continuous employees lived in Sangre Grande and environs, and he described the decision as heartless.

He claimed he and other council members were instructed to take the action by certain members of the UNC but stressed that, as far has he was aware, UNC political leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, did not sanction the action.