Another group of workers is facing retrenchment without severance benefits. There are reports that 66 employees of GGI Trinidad Ltd will be sent home by August 6 as the Arima-based supplier of aluminium and steel products is going out of business.
Retrenchment notices sent to the workers this week, advise that under the existing arrangements for the winding up of the company, it is very unlikely that they will be given any severance benefits.
The company is going into receivership and its assets are being sold to Roof Systems Ltd. RBC Royal Bank Ltd (RBCTT) appointed Maria Daniel and Zack Nadur as joint receivers-managers on April 7. After they took control of the company's business, property and assets, it continued to operate as a going concern.
The workers were told on May 24 that the company's assets had been sold to Roof Systems Ltd and on Wednesday they were served with retrenchment letters stating that effective August 6 GGI will cease to operate and its workforce will become redundant.
No money is available for severance benefits. The receivers said while Section 18 of the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act provides for the payment of severance upon retrenchment, they are under a legal duty to apply monies from the sale of the assets and all other monies collected under their receivership in a particular order of priority starting with the amount owed to the bank as the debenture holder.
They added that other statutory payments rank in priority to severance, including rates and taxes.
The retrenchment notice states: "Acting in good faith, we wish to let you know that based on the figures at hand, the oustanding balance due to RBCTT exceeds the purchase price to be paid by Roof Systems so that there is a likelihood that after paying RBCTT, there will be no surplus which can be applied to pay severance.
"As a further act of good faith, the joint receivers-managers are seeking to negotiate with RBCTT to permit us to pay two months' severance or a part thereof but we cannot and do not guarantee that RBCTT will agree to this or that there will be any surplus funds to pay severance."
The workers have also been told that they must continue to report for work unless otherwise advised and will be allowed time-off to seek other employment once a request is made in advance.
They have been asked to return all property that belongs to the company by July 29.
GGI Ltd, headquartered at O'Meara in Arima, has been in operation since the mid-1960s, with branches in Port-of-Spain, San Fernando and Tobago.
The winding up of GGI Ltd comes just months after the closure of steel company ArcelorMittal which resulted in 700 workers being sent home. The closure of that plant has had a domino effect on several downstream manufacturers and suppliers.