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*Petrotrin cries felt by fired UTT lecturers*
By Dr Kumar Mahabir
The heartbreak felt by ex-Petrotrin workers was the same that was
experienced by retrenched University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) lecturers
who were sent home earlier this year.
On May 11, 2018, the only national university in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T)
sacked 59 of its lecturers as part of a reported restructuring exercise.
Six months later, on November 30, the national oil company was officially
closed and all of its 8,000 workers were sent packing.
UTT lecturers were the first casualties of a State entity this year.
Petrotrin workers were next, followed by Telecommunications Services of
Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) employees. In all three State entities, workers
were sacrificed due to poor decisions made by Board members and managers.
Richardson Dhalai of *Newsday* (1/12/18) reported: “The day began on a
sombre note as Petrotrin employees reported for duties for the last time,
gloom etched on their faces as they drove hesitantly through the gates
leading to the company’s administrative offices. The atmosphere could
almost be likened to a wake [vigil] as there was no chatter with
Petrotrin’s estate police officers who traditionally manned the gates.”
Dhalai added that “temporary worker Khalifa Phillip could hardly contain
her grief and her voice cracked several times while her eyes welled with
tears as she said temporary workers had been thrown on the pavement by the
company.”
“‘There has been no communication to us on a personal level, not a phone
call, not an email, not a letter saying that there will no longer be a
company. No respect. We are not being treated with dignity, we have the
same bills as everybody. We have rent, we have children to feed, this was
our livelihood.
‘We were told nobody would be thrown in the bamboo, nobody would be on the
pavement. That is exactly where I feel I am today. I am one of the 600 who
they said would [not] have to suffer. I am one-month shy of 14 years in
Petrotrin and I really feel neglected and ignored by the State.’”
Dhalai wrote: “Two other temporary workers who were sitting in the audience
echoed Phillips’s words as tears rolled down their faces.”
*Loss of a job and a way of life*
Sascha Wilson of the *Guardian* (1/12/18) reported: “As workers packed up
their things and began leaving the workplace yesterday morning, they
expressed sadness and uncertainty over their future.”
A similar article on the same page by Rishi Ragoonath stated, “Wiping his
tears as he walked out the gates of Petrotrin after 30 years of service,
worker David Jadoonanan lamented, ‘This is so hard. It hurtful. I don’t
know what I will do.’ … Several workers, particularly temporary workers,
were reduced to tears.”
Ragoonath added: “[Gabriel] O’souna said workers were also concerned about
their medical plans and pension plans. Workers, he said, ‘have been sold to
hell in a hand basket.’ They claimed that other companies don’t want to
hire them because they have been demonised and portrayed as greedy, lazy
and unqualified.”
Sandhya Santoo of the *Express* (1/12/18) reported: “For the workers, many
wept openly as memories were shared with co-workers who had become friends
and family. Men and women, many of them second and third generation
Petrotrin employees, assembled at various locations with their bags of
office belongings, ready to head home.”
*The sacrifice of becoming a professional *
Preparing to become a lecturer was no easy feat for those who were
wrongfully retrenched by UTT without a fair, equitable, objective and
transparent criteria. The Assistant Professors had studied for about 15
years, having been successful at GCE/CSEC, A’Levels/CAPE, BA/BSc, MA/MSc,
and the Ph.D. These academics had spent an enormous amount of dedicated
time and money to study, prepare for exams, conduct original research,
write a thesis and dissertation, publish in academic journals, and present
papers at international conferences.
To which place of employment can they now turn? And in May (when they were
fired) when universities hire lecturers long before the academic year
begins in September? Administrator Judy Rocke dismissed lecturers in the
Bachelor of Education (BEd) Programme who were specialists in teacher
training. They taught students to be the primary and secondary school
teachers of tomorrow, guiding their minds for the challenges of the
changing classroom.
Through experience and studies, they were specialists in teaching Theories
in Education, Curriculum Studies, Pedagogy/Teaching Methods, Assessment and
Evaluation, Psychology of Learning, Classroom Management, Instructional
Design, Research Methods, Written Communication and Contemporary Issues in
Education.
In our court case against Rocke and UTT President Sarim Al Zubaidy, our
attorneys are contending that, in the circumstances, our dismissal was
“unjustified, unlawful, harsh, punitive and oppressive.” In their
considered view, our attorneys are also arguing that our arbitrary
dismissal was an “abuse of power and/or misfeasance by public officers in a
State institution. In Petrotrin and UTT, industrial relations procedures
were neglected in the haste to retrench specialists and professionals.”
*Dr. Mahabir taught several courses at UTT including Written Communication.*
*811* *words*
*Correspondence** for editor’s use ONLY–*
Dr. Kumar Mahabir,
Retrenched Assistant Professor,
Centre for Education Programmes (CEP),
University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT).
Mobile: (868) 756-4961
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
--
Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.
Not to speak is to speak.
Not to act is to act.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945), a vocal German opponent to Hitler’s
Nazi dictatorship.
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