TAWU suspicious of Flow termination of workers

TAWU suspicious of Flow termination of workers

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Details: Parent Category: Nov 2011; Category: Week ending Nov 26th, 2011; Published on Tuesday, 29 November 2011 18:17; Hits: 878

Grenada's lone cable company, Flow has terminated the services of four of the 18 members of its middle-management team.

The four junior managers, two males and two females, received their dismissal letters with immediate effect just after settling in on the job last week Wednesday. The company cited restructuring as being the reason for making the workers redundant.

The dismissal of the workers came against the backdrop of moves being made by the Grenada Technical and Allied Workers Union (TAWU) to have FLOW's management team unionised.

President General of TAWU, Senator Chester Humphrey told the media that the application to become the bargaining agent for Flow's management staff was due to have been made by the end of last week.

Sen. Humphrey is not convinced that restructuring of the company is the real reason for the dismissal of the workers since any company must know that it is re-organising well ahead of time. The letters issued to the dismissed workers, read in part: "We regret to inform you that due to the restructuring of the company's operations we are left with no alternative but to implement a reduction in the number of labour force, and to declare the position you hold with the company as surplus to its requirement, and therefore, redundant with effect from November 16th."

Although the names of the affected workers were not released to the media, enquiries made by The New Today Newspaper reveal that they are Adrienne Taylor, Delron Andrews, Dexter Francis, and Garvin Lett who is the son of Agriculture Minister, Denis Lett. One of the affected workers gave 20 years of service to Flow.

Sen. Humphrey said it is clear to his union that the decision is anti-union and suspect that the dismissal is connected to the union's efforts to have the management staff unionised. According to the trade union leader, those who were dismissed can be considered to be the key people that were making the move to have the management staff unionised.

"We are convinced what the letter ... is in fact a surreptitious way of frustrating the unionisation of those employees," he said. "This hurry dismissal is nothing, but an attempt to frustrate that effort," he added.

Sen. Humphrey was adamant that every employee has a constitutional right under the Grenada Constitution to form or belong to a trades union for the protection of his interest. He said this is a case of the most brazen piece of anti-union activity to terminate the services of the workers with immediate effect.

"So you fire those you perceive to be leaders, and therefore, you scare off the balance (of workers) so there'll be no representation," he added.

Sen. Humphrey indicated that although there will certainly be monetary compensation for the years of service to the dismissed workers, the fact of the matter is that a guaranteed job, in a market where there is forty percent unemployment, is better than any lump sum of money that the workers will receive.

TAWU is already the bargaining agent for 59 workers belonging to Flow's generalized staff. Sen. Humphrey announced that in solidarity with the dismissed workers, the union would take some form of industrial action. He declined to give specific details. However, a source at the cable company told THE NEW TODAY Newspaper that on the same day the four junior managers were dismissed, a letter was read to the general staff about the company's intention to lay-off another ten workers.

The source who did not want to be identified said that the company's management claimed in the letter that they have been forced to resort to that action due to an economic and financial crisis being faced. However, the source is disputing that this is the real reason since large sums of money are usually sent to Flow's head office in Trinidad and little paid to workers in the form of salaries and wages.

"They are very vindictive down there. They have no love for any one. Only the managers are making more than two thousand dollars there," the source said.