TSTT CEO on layoffs: We had to act

TSTT CEO Dr Ronald Walcott said recent retrenchments were needed to save the company, but assured that the severance payment, amounting to $365 million, was generous to the point of being four times the amount set down by law.

“This is distressing for me as CEO because these are my employees. They understand.”

He said the retrenchments were part of the TSTT board’s long-term plan to give the company a viable future.

Walcott spoke in an arranged interview with Newsday yesterday at TSTT’s office on Edwards Street, Port of Spain.

He said while the separation package, as calculated under the Retrenchment and Severance Benefit Act would amount to $81 million, TSTT will in fact pay $365 million.

“The packages are more than fair. That gives us the comfort that people are not leaving here on the breadline, but with enough finance to start again.”

Regarding claims by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) that retrenchment notices had been issued even as company/union talks were still underway, he said that since taking office in 2014 he had said the telecommunications industry was undergoing a transformation. TSTT is at an inflection point from a traditional legacy company to being a broadband provider, Walcott said.

“I have had 40 conversations with the union. TSTT’s Industrial Relations and Human Resources Departments have also had talks with the union.

“We end up in circular conversations that don’t take us anywhere.

“The survival of the company is under serious threat, so we had to move.” Asked about the CWU’s claim that TSTT was blindly obeying orders by the Government to retrench, Walcott said that was a reckless remark and union posturing, as talks had been underway for years. “We have no Government interference.”

Walcott said while the current topic of conversation is retrenchment, the wider issue is about transforming TSTT to be better, as a provider of mobile, broadband and ICT to lead the country’s economic development. He vowed to act in TSTT’s best interest, including treating with the union in good faith.