Andrea Perez-Sobers
Senior Reporter
andrea.perez-sobers@guardian.co.tt
Workers at Angostura Holdings Ltd protested outside the company’s Laventille headquarters yesterday, as shareholders gathered inside for the company’s 44th annual meeting, with the Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Trade Union (SWWTU) accusing management of putting production ahead of workers’ health and safety.
SWWTU president general, Michael Annisette, told reporters while braving a heavy downpour, the union was particularly concerned about conditions at the company’s wastewater treatment plant, where workers had been ordered to resume duties despite outstanding health and safety concerns.
Annisette said management and the union had previously agreed to establish a committee comprising representatives of both sides to address the concerns.
“I think it was a five-man committee. They met once, and there were certain detailed provisions that were made for the management to address with immediately. One of them was the question of medical examinations,” he explained.
Annisette said the union was seeking medical assessments by an industrial doctor for workers who may have been exposed to gases and other substances at the plant.
“Because, as the comrades say, in that area, you have a lot of CO2, gases,” he outlined.
The union also raised concerns about the condition of scaffolding and pathways used by workers at the plant.
Annisette said structures had become corroded because of the conditions in which workers were required to operate.
“Now think about it. That is steel. Because of the atmosphere, it has been corroded. Management cannot deny that,” he said.
He questioned the implications of the corrosion for workers who continued to operate in the area.
“So that if steel and stainless steel are being corroded, what is the position of the workers who have to work there and who have to inhale that same material into their bodies that is being corroded when it hits the steel,” Annisette said.
He accused management of restarting production before all the issues raised by the union had been addressed.
According to Annisette, management subsequently informed the union that workers were being instructed to return because the scaffolding had been repaired.
“The management sent one of the most disrespectful correspondences that this union has ever witnessed and had the displeasure of receiving. A correspondence addressed to me as the president, telling me as the president that they are instructing workers to return to work because they fixed the scaffolding,” he lamented.
Annisette maintained that repairing the scaffolding did not resolve the wider health and safety concerns.
“But all the other issues that are part of the health and safety issues, it has not been addressed,” he said.
He said the union’s request for industrial medical assessments remained a central concern.
“One of the fundamental issues that we were asking for is that the workers must be tested by an industrial doctor to ensure that their health is proper,” Annisette said.
Annisette also raised concerns about reports from two female workers who had undergone medical examinations.
He said the women had told the union their doctors found that their lungs appeared significantly older than their actual ages.
“And the doctors said they have lungs like an over 60-year-old person,” he said.
Annisette linked the concerns to workers’ exposure to conditions at the plant, but those claims have not been independently established.
He highlighted the union was also concerned about the availability of gas-testing equipment for workers.
He referred to devices known as “crickets”, which he said are used to test for gases including hydrogen sulphide, or H2S.
“And then we have witnessed that this has been going off consistently and regularly,” he said.
Annisette also claimed there were insufficient devices for all workers, resulting in them being shared.
The union president broadened his criticism to Angostura’s management structure, questioning the growth in the number of managers and officers.
“In 2016, there were 27 managers. Now there are 60 managers. And in 2016, there were 34 officers. Now there are 96,” he said.
Annisette questioned whether the expansion in management had been matched by sufficient attention to workers’ concerns.
He also called for scrutiny of the qualifications and certifications of senior managers appointed to the company.
“I would like you to investigate who comes in as executive human resource manager, operational managers and other managers to determine whether they are aptly qualified and whether they have the certification that is required for those jobs that are well paid,” he said.
Annisette further criticised spending on management offices, claiming that some office repairs had cost more than $50,000.
The protest took place as shareholders debated corporate governance issues at the company’s annual meeting.
For the union, however, the immediate concern remained the health and safety of workers returning to the wastewater treatment plant.
Annisette said the union had been patient and wanted management to address the broader concerns rather than treating the scaffolding repairs as the end of the matter.
The union’s position is that production should not resume at the expense of worker safety, particularly while questions remain over medical assessments, exposure to gases and the conditions in which workers are operating.
Angoustra officials did not comment up to press time.
