San Fernando corporation workers protest over poor working conditions

Frustrated with ongoing work issues, San Fernando City Corporation (SFCC) workers staged a placard protest on Thursday.

Over 300 workers, members of the Contractors and General Workers Trade Union (CGWTU), protested outside the corporation’s complex at Carib Street from around 7.30 am.

Branch president Ian Charles complained about the “inhumane treatment” that daily-rated workers have been facing for many years. He said workers from the garage do not have a proper place to eat, and the compound was infested with pigeons.

“Sometimes, when the workers go to eat, the pigeons fly all over the place. We know pigeons bring diseases. We have numerous complaints to management about this, all of which fell on deaf ears,” Charles said.

He added that the stores were dilapidated and the environmental control division (ECD) was festered with pigeons and mosquitoes.

Charles said the fish market at King’s Wharf has “hardly” any running water. There are two disposable toilets which have not been cleaned in months.

Despite these conditions, workers work diligently, but he added that management does not seem to care.

“This is the smoke. The fire behind. We sit down too long and digest this. In the transport department, about 20 per cent of the fleet works and 80 per cent is non-functional. Management is not buying tools or parts...The last time we got uniform and protective gear was in 2018,” Charles said.

“The cemetery workers, the gravediggers, have nowhere to reside, just as the other wards. We don’t have proper amenities for workers.”

He likened the offices of management staffers to offices in Hyatt Regency.

“Management is working in comfort, they are sitting in air-conditioning, yet the workers are using park disposals in 2023. I am saying that management is trying its best to either send home workers or privatise this place,” he added.

“Workers are tired. Workers are fed up, and enough is enough. We will never retreat or surrender.”

He said the workers have been experiencing these problems for the past ten to 15 years.

He said the SFCC acting CEO, Kathy-Ann Mills-Mark, inherited the problems when she took office earlier this year.

CGWTU’s general secretary, Arthur Stewart, also addressed media personnel, saying governments have only been making promises. He said thousands of dollars have been allocated for work to house management and councillors at the Carib Street compound.

“Charity begins at home. Fix the department first. How many years have they promised the watchmen, gatemen, transport workers, loaders, and drivers a washroom area? Up to now, nothing,” Stewart said.

He referred to Carib Street as a “live wire” of the corporation.

“It houses transport, garage, stores, ECD, plumbings, carpenters, insect vector, tyre shop, machine shop, carpenter shop, watchmen and casual workers. Here alone, we have over 500 workers. We will get nothing if we don’t stand up for the right thing.

“Enough is enough. We have a job to do, and they have to provide us with the necessity to do it. Workers have to use cardboard as crawlers to go under the trucks. We want the new council to know that we are fed up, and they have to make decisions to improve the condition.”

Newsday contacted the CEO’s office for comment, but up to Thursday afternoon, a response was not forthcoming.