ArcelorMittal plant sold to TT Iron Steel Company Ltd

[De Dragon]

Imo, government doing arseness. The company come, uses the resources, the land , the people, make an bag ah money.
They closing up shop, and ain't pay the workers off. Just up and leave.

The government in the form of the ministry of labor needs to Pursue the company to conform to the labor laws the land has, and severance the workers.

Any body could come and bobolize we, and as a country we would take it.
All we could do as a country is wine and jam and play football. When it come to real matters, we is dotish black people who can't stand up to nobody, we can't say boo

The problem is that there are no existing laws to prevent precisely what ArcelorMittal is doing

[sMASH]

Section 6 of the retrenchment and severance benefit act. They could use that to force the company to pay sumting to the workers. And they supposed to give the workers 45days notice before the let them go, unless they have a good enough reason.

[EmilioA]

Imo, government doing arseness. The company come, uses the resources, the land , the people, make an bag ah money.
They closing up shop, and ain't pay the workers off. Just up and leave.

The government in the form of the ministry of labor needs to Pursue the company to conform to the labor laws the land has, and severance the workers.

Any body could come and bobolize we, and as a country we would take it.
All we could do as a country is wine and jam and play football. When it come to real matters, we is dotish black people who can't stand up to nobody, we can't say boo

The problem is that there are no existing laws to prevent precisely what ArcelorMittal is doing

Strictly speaking this is correct. However since most of the debt seems to be owed to other Arcelor Mittal companies a good lawyer could argue that the bankruptcy filing itself is false and constitutes a deliberate attempt to circumvent the laws of T&T.

[jhonnieblue]

The workers were paid severance according to the laws as well as they will get pension..they just not getting to take it out early as some wanted..the union just beating up and mittal has not come out to say anything. Just rem most of you are hearing one side to a story.
I suggest you go ask some of the more educated people that worked mittal..they are fine with the payouts and don't understand why the union is kicking up a fuss.

[sMASH]

Well, if they got their money, then they're not entitled to more. Is just a hard luck scenes, they hadda bubble.

[jhonnieblue]

Administration assistants got as high a 50k for less than 5 yes service. Trust me.like typical trinis..greed prevailing. Cant blame mittal for packing it up and going..its not govt workers and by all accounts unionized workers seem to feel they could do as they want.

[antlind]

Sometimes having a 'strong' union presence is not such a good thing.

[Dave-ve]

With less than 5 years service you get back your pension contributions.

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

Administration assistants got as high a 50k for less than 5 yes service. Trust me.like typical trinis..greed prevailing. Cant blame mittal for packing it up and going..its not govt workers and by all accounts unionized workers seem to feel they could do as they want.

50k is what? Pension contributions?

[bluefete]

The workers were paid severance according to the laws as well as they will get pension..they just not getting to take it out early as some wanted..the union just beating up and mittal has not come out to say anything. Just rem most of you are hearing one side to a story.
I suggest you go ask some of the more educated people that worked mittal..they are fine with the payouts and don't understand why the union is kicking up a fuss.

I understand that this is what happened as well.

[jhonnieblue]

50k was outside pension contributions...that was their "severance". Once under five years they will get a full refund on pension contributions.
Right now they are protesting by Atlantic round about. Honestly they are just trying to get the public on their side. But reality is they are wasting time and being greedy

[BRZ]

The workers were paid severance according to the laws as well as they will get pension..they just not getting to take it out early as some wanted..the union just beating up and mittal has not come out to say anything. Just rem most of you are hearing one side to a story.
I suggest you go ask some of the more educated people that worked mittal..they are fine with the payouts and don't understand why the union is kicking up a fuss.

USUAL "UNION" Bullsh1t mentality, they always want want want want more more more........... well they got exactly that!

[De Dragon]

Sometimes having a 'strong' union presence is not such a good thing.

Unions lost their way years ago in T&T. The kinda stories you hear about what goes on at Mittal and the apathy displayed by some of the workers is amazing. Its like crime, if you know you can get away with it, you'll do it.

[mark2.0]

Sometimes having a 'strong' union presence is not such a good thing.

Unions lost their way years ago in T&T. The kinda stories you hear about what goes on at Mittal and the apathy displayed by some of the workers is amazing. Its like crime, if you know you can get away with it, you'll do it.

Agreed with the big lizard.

[De Dragon]

Sometimes having a 'strong' union presence is not such a good thing.

Unions lost their way years ago in T&T. The kinda stories you hear about what goes on at Mittal and the apathy displayed by some of the workers is amazing. Its like crime, if you know you can get away with it, you'll do it.

Agreed with the big lizard.

Then you have dinosaurs like Roget marching at the Point Lisas roundabout for "jostiss". All this talk about "we" and "dem" is so archaic and at odds with today's reality that workers and employers HAVE to find common ground and work together for the betterment of all. I agree that there are exploiters, but for a company to pack it in and cite "worker productivity" among things like depressed markets etc is astonishing.

[antlind]

It's sad. My cousins son lost his job at Mittal. He just took out a mortgage and rebuilt his fathers house. Now the kid has to drive PH to survive. Rough times for many families.

[BRZ]

Sometimes having a 'strong' union presence is not such a good thing.

Unions lost their way years ago in T&T. The kinda stories you hear about what goes on at Mittal and the apathy displayed by some of the workers is amazing. Its like crime, if you know you can get away with it, you'll do it.

Labour in this country have been getting away with Murder, it is extremely hard to balance the generosity and leniency of a Business Owner without being taken advantage of by workers.

Its about time Employers have the upper hand again .

[De Dragon]

Sometimes having a 'strong' union presence is not such a good thing.

Unions lost their way years ago in T&T. The kinda stories you hear about what goes on at Mittal and the apathy displayed by some of the workers is amazing. Its like crime, if you know you can get away with it, you'll do it.

Labour in this country have been getting away with Murder, it is extremely hard to balance the generosity and leniency of a Business Owner without being taken advantage of by workers.

Its about time Employers have the upper hand again .

There has to be a balance IMHO. Workers have to identify with the company's goals and work toward profitability, because that will guarantee future employment and financial security.

[Country_Bookie]

Sometimes having a 'strong' union presence is not such a good thing.

Unions lost their way years ago in T&T. The kinda stories you hear about what goes on at Mittal and the apathy displayed by some of the workers is amazing. Its like crime, if you know you can get away with it, you'll do it.

Labour in this country have been getting away with Murder, it is extremely hard to balance the generosity and leniency of a Business Owner without being taken advantage of by workers.

Its about time Employers have the upper hand again .

There has to be a balance IMHO. Workers have to identify with the company's goals and work toward profitability, because that will guarantee future employment and financial security.

Unions don't think like that. They want their pound of flesh whether the company making money or making losses. They continue with this mentality until the company have to shut down.

[BRZ]

And shut down Arcelor has and left all their unfair labor arses without a job, serves them right.

[De Dragon]

And shut down Arcelor has and left all their unfair labor arses without a job, serves them right.

Strangely, the ex-employees will rail and beyotch against everyone but the union

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

Clearly it's never the employer's fault.

[De Dragon]

Clearly it's never the employer's fault.

Yes, but when obstructionist union idiots involved, it usually hastens the demise.

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

Clearly it's never the employer's fault.

Yes, but when obstructionist union idiots involved, it usually hastens the demise.

Steel in a mess generally though. Mittal would have closed regardless. Mittal already laid off people locally despite the presence of a union. Problem is on both sides. Can't just blame Union alone.

[De Dragon]

Clearly it's never the employer's fault.

Yes, but when obstructionist union idiots involved, it usually hastens the demise.

Steel in a mess generally though. Mittal would have closed regardless. Mittal already laid off people locally despite the presence of a union. Problem is on both sides. Can't just blame Union alone.

Never said they were solely to blame, but the work ethic, safety at Arcelor Mittal is horrible. This leads to worker apathy and demotivation, but when you have a union encouraging the irresponsible behaviour by defending insubordination, high absenteeism, etc, well nobody wins as we can tell.

[BRZ]

Someone please tell Henry there's a vast difference between clico and Arcelor... Are you THAT MF stupid? Figures if you're head of a union anyway.

[joker]

[joker]

Clearly it's never the employer's fault.

Yes, but when obstructionist union idiots involved, it usually hastens the demise.

Steel in a mess generally though. Mittal would have closed regardless. Mittal already laid off people locally despite the presence of a union. Problem is on both sides. Can't just blame Union alone.

Never said they were solely to blame, but the work ethic, safety at Arcelor Mittal is horrible. This leads to worker apathy and demotivation, but when you have a union encouraging the irresponsible behaviour by defending insubordination, high absenteeism, etc, well nobody wins as we can tell.

A lot of idiots on this topic sah. Apparently they heard the other side of the story not knowing that ampl created Arcelormittal tru subsidies, cheap labour. Not once the topic of acquisitions came into your elaborate minds from 1plant in pt Lisas to over 100 plants globally or never was price transfer mentioned...
Admin staff would've gone home with one or 2mths pay..... Not 50 k but less than 18k and a person with 36 year s service would go home with less than 30k. Excluding vacation and the court judgement . One worker lost over 700k cus of a judgment awarded and company went into liquidation...and
over 2000contract workers would have benefitted from that landmark judgement.

[zoom rader]

Clearly it's never the employer's fault.

Yes, but when obstructionist union idiots involved, it usually hastens the demise.

Steel in a mess generally though. Mittal would have closed regardless. Mittal already laid off people locally despite the presence of a union. Problem is on both sides. Can't just blame Union alone.

World steel is in a mess and thats a fact. With regards to the Union,I was a member of that union at one time. There were alot of underhand dealings taking place to which I will not comment on. Mittal always had the upper hand on the union.

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

I guess y'all right on this one. Spoke to someone in management who was employed at arcelor. They said the union there wasn't willing to work with the company. Excuses like "not within job spec" were used. No willingness to compromise in terms of working with the company to accept any pay cuts via different methods.

Person also said that what mittal did was unethical though. How not every person was in the union so they got a raw deal by the abrupt pull out.