TSTT CEO paid $180,000 a month

PUBLIC Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte has reported that TSTT CEO Ronald Walcott receives a salary of $180,000 a month.

He was responding to a question in the Senate yesterday.

He said the package of the CEO and the vice president of human resources/industrial relations and corporate support (Carol David) was consistent with current remuneration packages.

He reported that the CEO, apart from his salary, also received a housing allowance of $15,000, an entertainment allowance of $5,000, a company-maintained car and medical coverage. The vice president received $105,000 per month, $7,000 housing allowance, $3,000 entertainment allowance, a company-maintained car and medical coverage.

Opposition Senator Wade Mark asked if the executives received annual bonuses, but Le Hunte said he was not in a position to answer. He added, however, that the salary paid was 50 per cent of what was paid from 2010-2015, when foreigners were employed.

He said as at December 14, 2018, a total 631 employees were severed from the company, including 77 who took voluntary separation, and this severance was part of a strategic plan to save the organisation from bankruptcy by 2021 and to save the existing 1,300 jobs.

Le Hunte said this was only one aspect of the restructuring and there was also digitisation and an ongoing “zero copper” exercise to remove copper from the infrastructure which was slowing down broadband services.

He also reported the management team was reduced from 18 people to ten and was the largest drop at the company. He was confident TSTT was on the right step to making its operations profitable.

Mark also asked if the money owed to TSTT by the Government for CCTV cameras caused the company to fire more than 600 employees.

Le Hunte said the issue, which had been in negotiations for the past six months, did not affect that decision as the company lost over $450 million in its first six months. “You cannot run a company, you cannot continue to invest and make the necessary types of advancement, especially when you are in a competitive environment, when you losing money, close to $100 million in operating profits.”

Le Hunte said last year the operating profit loss was $35 million.