National Strike updates/ watch/ News

[DSM_05]

Unions have their own agenda.

LOL at their "supporters" thinking their union leaders have their best interest at heart. Most of the union cronies got bought over by nice salaries and positions in Petro ages ago.

According to 2010 figures from MoE Petrotin has 1601 employees in Marketing and Refining

Actually, there is where needs the people, since they are the ones making the money that everyone else scabs off of.

Everywhere else...probably not.

If 1600 workers exist in the core service @ Petro...what are the other 2400 doing? (Petro has over 4000 workers).

[Bareback]

everyone know the company drowning in debt and loans that they have to pay off, so obviously they cant suffice any sort of lavish pay increase. so why call a strike, what is the expected benefit?

btw, im sure most of the employees not willing to chance their salaries for any strike period, man have mortgage, car installment an chirren tuh mine dann.

if the company in so much debt...how come it have 2 million to give to pan and not the workers ...who are owed that money.....profit sharing is a LEGALLY binding agreement...that the company does not honor...when the company,for eg,makes 2 billion in profit...10% of anything after that is supposed to go to the workers...10%!!!!! the company still gets the other 90%...nxtreme bawling the company in debt...how come it have money to give everybody else but where it supposed to go....whether you believe (in all your ignorance) why the workers shouldnt get this or that, at the end of the day it is a legally binding document....management will gladly go to court,even though they will lose....the matter will take 5 to 7 years to come to a conclusion(and the company can invest and make money off of that money owed)...by that time people dead,fired,change jobs etc....a strike will produce immediate response...cause if they owed the workers half a mill. , when the the plants shut down,it will cost petrotrin 5 times as much,daily....

I think you may have taken the comments out of context. The union is attempting to hold the country at ransom in an attempt to squeeze more money out of the company which is in essence the state and the tax payers. If there is an agreement to pay an additional amount if the company is profitable in any given year then you are correct, that is a legally binding agreement and should be paid.

Now if on the basis of one year of profitability the union sees that as the basis of requesting further increases in compensation going forward while ignoring the previous years of losses and the current debt levels of the company which are being backed by the state and the taxpayers, then this is the essence of the comments being made.

The comments are being driven by the union's continuous demands while the company is sinking further and further at the expense of the country and the taxpayers. Now if the unions negotiated for a cap on spending or management bonuses, or for a restructuring of the management roles and the number of managers and their compensation, or for certain efficiency levels to be met before additional compensation kicks in then you may see comments of a different nature as this would signal an interest in seeing the company viable and profitable. As it stands, Petrotrin Bonds are just barely above investment grade and that is due SOLELY to the positive credit rating of the country. If the company did not have the backing of Trinidad & Tobago it would be classified as Junk Bonds and no one wojuld buy their bonds.

It is the issue of profitability and viability that is of grave concern. We already spent too many millions back in the 80's buying a useless refinery from Texaco simply because we could not afford not to have a refinery and not have our citizens employed, it simply did not make economic sense. We have already spent billions behind the company to keep it running and to modernize certain plants and to make the company competitive. Not to mention the longterm liabilities on the company's books for loans, bonds, pensions, medical, GTL, etc................

So if it is that the union is negotiating an amount above 5%, and we are not seeing a corresponding improvement in the financial position of the company nor are we seeing an equal improvement in the efficiency and productivity of the company, then seeing that it is our tax dollars at work and our country's oil being sold, give us the Non-OWTU/ Non-Petrotrin workers of T&T the same increase. That way we all benefit from the royalties of our country's resources and if Petrotrin fails then none of us can point fingers because we all had a hand in allowing it to fail.

[eyeballz]

labourer base salary is $8500 plus cola at present


how do you justify a 75% increase on this.............

5% is already probably too much

whats the jd of the labourer

I too agree unions can be over the top. And it have plenty workers that don't pull their own weight. the problem with roget is that nobody eh buy him yet or offer him a price that he willing to sell his soul for.

I eh think he serious about that 75%, but all ah we on tuner and we know the hustle, ask for more than you think you can get and then 'negotiate' till yuh feel that yuh get the best offer. yuh can't ask for 10% when is 10 yuh want.

and ah labourer does do any lil odds and ends that eh require any level of skill, just a head on yuh shoulder. i see some sweeping and cleaning up shops

[NXTREME]

btw most of the salaries posted in the papers are not what an employee usually starts at, these figures are more rated at after an employee has worked for 10 years+.

think its in poor taste of the company to publish this information to the public, i mean come on use some brains.

[Aaron 2NR]

these rates are actually the lower end of the brackets and not like the poster above....i have a copy of the union rates somewhere around the office...

a clerk get around $52.50 per hr....

foreman 1 $85.22
foreman 3 $105.66


remember these workers also get COLA..


having worked in the environment, if you ask someone for some assistance ( for argument sake, hold a measuring tape ) and it's not in their job description, he going and tell you I AM NOT DOING THAT.......

[nervewrecker]

75% increase, hell yea we can afford that.

beetham & lavantille parasites who have not contributed one fcuk to society getting a 100% increase....to do not one fcuk. 75% is nuffin to pay up for some workers who do a lil something self.

[Mudboy]

these rates are actually the lower end of the brackets and not like the poster above....i have a copy of the union rates somewhere around the office...

a clerk get around $52.50 per hr....

foreman 1 $85.22
foreman 3 $105.66


remember these workers also get COLA

Those figures have to be wrong...there is no way a labourer making more than an Engineer in the private sector

Aaron yuh lie......

[Aaron 2NR]

these rates are actually the lower end of the brackets and not like the poster above....i have a copy of the union rates somewhere around the office...

a clerk get around $52.50 per hr....

foreman 1 $85.22
foreman 3 $105.66


remember these workers also get COLA

Those figures have to be wrong...there is no way a labourer making more than an Engineer in the private sector

Aaron yuh lie......

you will be surprised...i'm looking for the rate sheet.....

[pete]

A man say it's in poor taste to post the salaries in the papers? awww

[rollingstock]

Police = $6,049

Hahahaha take bad service in allyuh muddakant

[Mudboy]

these rates are actually the lower end of the brackets and not like the poster above....i have a copy of the union rates somewhere around the office...

a clerk get around $52.50 per hr....

foreman 1 $85.22
foreman 3 $105.66


remember these workers also get COLA

Those figures have to be wrong...there is no way a labourer making more than an Engineer in the private sector

Aaron yuh lie......

you will be surprised...i'm looking for the rate sheet.....

Well fack this education thing and diploma and degree ...it always was a drag

I gonna learn a trade......and be home for all the mudda crunt weekend and all the Carnival fete and not miss another facking xmas .......

and yes.....the TUMS ent wukking...

[NXTREME]

he eh lie na he just about right

and i agree with aaron especially bout that part about job descriptions, the culture is frankly just disgusting with the "dem not paying me to do that" and "dat is not my wukk" comments.

[Dizzy28]

I'll never forget the cool story an engineer who used to work here once told me bout his time there.

[coolstory]As part of a Mech Eng team they had recently completed the installation of some new pumps at one ah the plants within the Pointe-à-Pierre refinery. On the day of commissioning of said pumps they had a small ceremony and invited a few senior engineers and the suppliers of the pump. However the commissioning was delayed because a valve turner was not present (He was out on lunch) to turn on the valve and start the pump. To have any other person do so would have taken away work from the valve turner and OWTU does not allow work to be taken from their members[end /coolstory]

[toyolink]

The problem with Petrotrin remains rooted in the perception/reality that people high up the chain and their associates ensure that they lavishly take care of themselves (with no suggestion of financial constraints).
How i can these individuals or their representatives look the workers in their eyes and say "things ain't good".
Over the last few years in particular with media reports of massive upgrade project gone sour,people in high office renting their property to international service providers,bonuses so huge that ordinary people just can't wrap their minds around them,etc,etc,etc......
Unfortunately,bitterness has been fostered!
What you sow is what you reap.

[Aaron 2NR]

^ sounds about right

[NXTREME]

The problem with Petrotrin remains rooted in the perception/reality that people high up the chain and their associates ensure that they lavishly take care of themselves (with no suggestion of financial constraints).
How i can these individuals or their representatives look the workers in their eyes and say "things ain't good".
Over the last few years in particular with media reports of massive upgrade project gone sour,people in high office renting their property to international service providers,bonuses so huge that ordinary people just can't wrap their minds around them,etc,etc,etc......
Unfortunately,bitterness has been fostered!
What you sow is what you reap.

thaz d milking the cow part

[shotta 20]

I'll never forget the cool story an engineer who used to work here once told me bout his time there.

[coolstory]As part of a Mech Eng team they had recently completed the installation of some new pumps at one ah the plants within the Pointe-à-Pierre refinery. On the day of commissioning of said pumps they had a small ceremony and invited a few senior engineers and the suppliers of the pump. However the commissioning was delayed because a valve turner was not present (He was out on lunch) to turn on the valve and start the pump. To have any other person do so would have taken away work from the valve turner and OWTU does not allow work to be taken from their members[end /coolstory]

The idea of this is more of a safety aspect.
When i used to work on site, we were told not to do any work outside our classification, cause in the event of an accident, we would be wrong if we were doing something we were not employed to do.

[Dizzy28]

Imagine when TTUTA see them wages. They already saying teachers have degrees and underpaid.

[Damien]

in another unionized company a forklift driver getting $78/hr plus $8/hr shift allowance and cola, labourer getting little bit under that

[Redman]

A man say it's in poor taste to post the salaries in the papers? awww

How come Petrotrin eh publish management salaries-same state enterprise,same allowance for disclosure.


Later

[pete]

Because management not striking?

[shotta 20]

in another unionized company a forklift driver getting $78/hr plus $8/hr shift allowance and cola, labourer getting little bit under that

Cement?

[Aaron 2NR]

A man say it's in poor taste to post the salaries in the papers? awww

How come Petrotrin eh publish management salaries-same state enterprise,same allowance for disclosure.


Later

under the freedom of information act you can attain such if you require....

[Redman]

Petrotrin down tools -they being intimidated by TTDF
All 15 ah dem

Thats a first.

Later

[NXTREME]

redman yuh have ball by ball coverage o wuh

[rampy]

Petrotrin should publish rates compared to other local producers like Repsol, BGas, BP for the public to better be informed.

[rampy]

Damien can you tell us what are the MisManagers salary and perks in TCL because shareholders got no dividends during the last building BOOM.

[Redman]

Because management not striking?

I

Well they wouldn't be striking-they WELL paid-at a company that is floundering for the past 10 years.
Which is the argument that is used deny the workers their demands.

My point is that labor salaries are 1 side of the equation-managements is the other.

And at the end of the day the Co is POORLY managed and the unions do their part to prevent change.

But like normal the real issues being clouded by politics and the press.


Later

[RIPEBREDFRUIT]

WTF! a LABOURER wants more than 8,500+ cola a month???

STEUPS!

a whip in they kant is what dem need too!

[hydroep]

Privatise.