OWTU bankrupt? Fake news, says union official

THE Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) is not bankrupt, as a message circulating on social media is purporting.

The OWTU has dismissed the virtually transmitted message as “fake news.”

The image shows a photograph of the union’s Paramount Building headquarters at Circular Road, San Fernando and an embedded message that it will soon be occupied by a supermarket.

“Coming soon Anand Low Price Supermarket... It’s a lease/purchase agreement says inside sources,” says one part of the message on the bottom of the photograph.

The other part above the photograph claims, “OWTU bankrupt. OWTU to lese out Paramount. Ancil Roget used up all the money invested over the years by Butler and Mc Leod for the due diligence of the refinery bid and lost all the money when Patriotic bid was rejected. Former Petrotrin workers say… Roget must go!”

Anand Supermarket was involved in the botched distribution of hampers which caused long lines outside South Park Mall last week, and provoked the “not needy but greedy” comment from Social Development Minister Donna Cox.

The supermarket chain previously rented space at the OWTU’s Butler Hall of Revolution, Fyzabad.

Coming at a time when the union has once again put in a bid through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Patriotic Energies and Technologies Co Ltd to run the Guaracara refinery, for which Government is again inviting requests for proposals (RFPs), OWTU believes dirty politics may be at play.

Ozzie Warwick, general secretary of the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) and chief education and research officer of the OWTU, told the Newsday he did not know the origin of the message, speculating, “it appears to have come from "political quarters.”

“It’s fake news. Nothing about it is true. That’s how low people are willing to go just to attack the union with misinformation and fake news.”

He said the union, “will continue to remain strong going forward with the rest of the labour movement in the unite to fight campaign.”

OWTU president general Ancel Roget is on record as acknowledging the prudence of his predecessors for the union’s ability to put in and succeed in its bid to run the former Petrotrin refinery and port.

Although  it succeeded against some 70 others to become the preferred bidder, Government rejected Patriotic’s offer three times. A fourth bid was entered in March 2021.

When its previous bids were not approved, Roget did refer to the tens of thousands spent to prepare their offers and how the financial loss could negatively affect the union.

While Patriotic awaits an answer to its last proposal, an advertisement was placed in the daily newspapers last Saturday by Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd (TPHL) inviting RFPs for only the refinery assets of Guaracara Co Ltd.

The latest RFP has drawn condemnation from the political leaders of the Movement for Social Justice and United National Congress, David Abdulah and Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Abdulah said the RFPs shifted from the original offer of assets. He noted the refinery could not operate in isolation from the tank farm and pipeline assets owned by another TPHL subsidiary, Paria Fuel.

Abdulah called for more transparency in the process