TSTT: No decision on retrenchment

STATE owned Telecommunications Services of TT (TSTT) on Saturday rejected a newspaper article which alleged that 573 of its employees would be retrenched.

In a statement, TSTT said on February 1, it submitted a proposal to its representative majority unions (RMUs) and its management staff, to restructure the company. The proposal was based on the the global and local telecommunications industry.

TSTT said the proposal is the subject of ongoing consultations with the RMUs and management staff.

On February 4, the company continued, it announced it has started the process to secure funding from the financial markets to cover the separation costs of its proposed restructuring exercise.

"The proposal is still in its formative stages as to the number of employees who might be potentially impacted."

The company said, "As part of making arrangements for the possibility that the proposal – whether as made or some varied form of it following the conclusion of consultations – might be implemented, TSTT had to seek funding to cover the cost of the proposed restructure."

TSTT added, "It is only after the consultations have been completed, that the proposed size and shape of the organisation will be determined, and the actual number of any impacted employees will be known."

Any stated, cited or quoted number of potentially impacted employees is not, definitive because this, along with among other matters are the subject of the ongoing consultations.

TSTT said it it is unable to make the details of the consultation process public and it would be inappropriate to comment further on the matter at this time.

The company added to do so would be "inconsistent with the principles of good industrial relations practice."

TSTT reiterated that the proposed restructuring was brought about by several factors, including the economic conditions of the covid19 pandemic and increased consumer adoption of digital applications like WhatsApp and communications platforms like Zoom.

These and other factors continue to have a crippling impact on the company’s business. TSTT reiterated this was shown with its revenue falling by $453 million during the past financial year ended March 31, 2021, 18 per cent less than for the same period in 2020.

On March 3, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young announced the formation of a Cabinet sub-committee to review the state of the company and make recommendations for its future.

Young said the committee would be chaired by Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis, and would include himself, Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonsalves, Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Digital Transformation Minister Hassel Bacchus.

Robinson-Regis was appointed Housing and Urban Development Minister in a Cabinet reshuffle on March 16.

Young said it was premature to ask if Government would be privatising its share of the company. He also said there was no issue about consulting with the CWU which has been in talks with TSTT management on a restructuring exercise.

“We will start by getting in there and getting an understanding. I don’t get the impression we will be doing a very deep dive, we’re going to be looking at it, getting an idea as to what the status is, what needs to happen, and making recommendations. There would be no move on our part to not have the union have an audience, I believe they may have met or supposed to meet with a couple of the ministers already, so there is no issue with us excluding the unions.”