As far as I am concerned, the Minister of Labour only got one thing right in her summation of the situation in which over 700 steel workers have lost their jobs. The minister said the decision of Arcelor Mittal to close down operations in T&T was not a result of any court decision, but they must have had it in mind for some time now. For those who have been following world trends in the production and prices of steel it was not unexpected but even predictable.
Recently in the UK, Indian giant TATA Steel has made approximately 5,200 steel workers redundant with the closure of two steel plants and soon another 1,200 will have to go. They say that due to the Chinese undercutting of import steel prices, it has become too expensive to produce steel in such a highly competitive environment.
So, it is not entirely surprising that Arcelor Mittal, who is tied to the Indian steel industry, would make such a decision, especially if the plant is losing money. People might be surprised to know that some multinationals believe that they are doing your country a favour by giving employment to your workers, making them highly sensitive to demands and other external forces. In T&T the steel industry was never a stable one, it was an emotional roller coaster for some years. We tried in the earlies to make an impact in the area of direct reduction of the iron ore, but we did not have the specially equipped ships to deliver the finished product, therefore no insurance and the effort collapsed. I believe we still have the record for the largest amount of direct reduction product shipped without specially refrigerated quipped ships.
I left the steel industry in 1985 and returned to the telecommunications industry where I retired in 2010. In my first year of retirement, the company disbanded the health plan (a comprehensive health plan is one of the reasons people work to get benefits later on). I sympathise with all the steel workers, but as you see, there are no guarantees, no matter where you are, most of us are subject to the vagaries of world economy and current trends.
If there is any way that the Government can save the benefits of these workers it would be a very great thing. What has happened is nothing short of a travesty of biblical proportions, let the country show them that we care.
Joel Quintal
San Fernando