CWU keen to meet Imbert on TSTT forensic audit

COMMUNICATION Workers Union (CWU) head Clyde Elder told Newsday on Monday he has heard nothing yet from the Government to arrange a meeting to discuss a forensic audit of TSTT, after the Prime Minister last week directed Finance Minister Colm Imbert to meet the union over its call for such scrutiny.

"We have not been contacted. We look forward to a meeting." Elder said he would try to contact Imbert whom the union hoped to meet this week.

"We have a lot to share with the Government to justify the need for a forensic audit at TSTT."

He hoped an audit would see people being held accountable for the current state of TSTT.

Elder said he was adopting a positive approach. Given the retrenchment axe now poised over the heads of about 600 unspecified TSTT workers, Newsday asked if the audit came too late.

"I don't believe its ever to late for anything to happen." He made the point that no particular workers have yet been earmarked to be retrenched.

Elder had called for the audit last July following remarks by Ingrid Lashley as chairman of the National Enterprises Limited (NEL) in the 2021 audited financial results of NEL as the holding company for the Government's 51 per cent stake in TSTT. She had said that after a 35 per cent loss in TSTT's value, a reorganisation exercise would yield significant profits going forward.

Now, any Government/union talks will come against the backdrop of ongoing company/union talks where Elder has expressed fears of 425-455 unionised workers being axed plus 100-plus contract and executive staff, with Estate Police Association (EPA) head Deryck Richardson likewise concerned for his 36 members serving as security officers at TSTT.

TSTT recently blamed a $453 million drop in its revenue last year on the pandemic, competition from WhatsApp and Zoom, redundant technology in TSTT, and industry-wide lower-margin data services. It hoped for savings by way of personnel costs, elimination of obsolete equipment and fresh revenue streams.