On April 19, 54-year-old Darsan Nanan was retrenched for the second time in 14 months—first from ArcelorMittal and then Caroni Green.
Six years shy of retirement, Nanan is reeling from the shock of finding himself unemployed after spending more than ten years in permanent employment and now facing the frustration of looking for a job, when employers seem unwilling to hire anyone at such an advanced age.
In an interview with the Sunday Guardian last Tuesday, Nanan described the effect of job loss on his family life, his mental well-being and his lifestyle.
Nanan, who got married to his wife at the age of 21, before leaving his Curepe home and moving with her to Carapichaima, got his first job as a cane cutter in the fields belonging to the Caroni 1975 Ltd.
He spent five years labouring under a scorching sun, gliding a cutlass through the air, constantly drenched by sweat.
In search of a better life, he left the company long before it shut down, and found employment with a gas company in Piarco.
In 1997, Nanan, who was then the sole breadwinner supporting his wife and daughter, found employment with a company contracted to ArcelorMittal.
He worked with the company for several years before being hired for a permanent position by ArcelorMittal as a melter in September 2006.
“I would spend eight hours per day near a pot holding 120 tonnes of molten steel. Every day I would work from either 7 am to 3 pm, or 3 pm to 11 pm or from 11 pm to 7 am,” Nanan recalled.
His uniform was a heat jacket, steel tip boots and a shield.
He said that sometimes it got so hot he had to pull his pants off his body because it would stick to his skin from the sweat.
Once while at the steel company, an oxygen hose became detached and hit him behind his head.
He got medical treatment and stayed home for six months recovering.
After becoming permanently employed by the steel company, Nanan and his wife started making improvements to their home.
They took loans for repairs, built up some savings and bought furniture on hire purchase agreements.
On December 2015, he received a letter from ArcelorMittal, advising that among the options being considered by the company was temporary redundancy.
Three months later, he received another letter, this one notifying him of a wind up of the company on March 11, 2016, with immediate effect.
He got an early retirement package from the insurance company.
“My wife had medical problems. I had taken out a few things from Courts and I had loans with the credit union. Out of the retirement package, I had to spend $25,000 immediately on tests for my wife, who continues to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis.
“I never imagined I would lose my job. I thought I was permanently employed. I was supposed to retire in six years,” Nanan said.
“I went all about looking for work but at my age, nobody wanted to hire me. I searched for five months.”
Unemployment takes a toll on home life
His unemployment started to take a toll on his home life, which suddenly featured constant arguments with his wife about the family’s finances.
“We find ourselves arguing with each other all the time,” Nana’s wife, Vashti, shared.
“Bills and loan payments were coming in but no money was coming in to pay them,” she said.
Nanan used to work taxi to help support his family but his eyesight has changed over the years.
“Although we had special glasses while I was doing the melting at Arcelor, my eyesight was affected from looking at the heat.
“I had to stop. I even have my licence to drive truck and tractor and I can’t use it because I can’t see too good.
“Sometimes my granddaughter comes and takes my hand and says ‘come let me walk you,’ and she leads me around cause she knows I cannot see well,” Nanan said.
Around the end of August 2016, Nanan was hired by Caroni Green Ltd, picking peppers and carrying it to the trucks. He was paid $200 per day.
The work was reminiscent of his first job. Again he was in agricultural fields—waking up at 6 am, toiling in the heat before clocking out at 2 pm.
“It was less than I worked for before, but it was something and I was grateful.”
Then came the second layoff within 14 months; a blow he did expect.
Since April 19, Nanan has called several companies advertising jobs in the newspaper but has had no luck.
He has been told that Caroni Green may call some workers back to pick the fields of pepper which was planted prior to the decision to close the company.
“I hope they call me. It’s difficult not knowing where I will get money from to feed my family. Before, I had somewhere to go every morning, something to do to make my life better and my family life better. I was being productive.
“Sometimes I spend time in the garden in the back where I have ochroes planted but I am still worried about the money.
“I never believed I would reach this situation. Right now we are getting by on our savings but that will not last forever.”
The things he considered luxuries, taking his wife on a Tobago trip annually or a drive to the beach have completely halted over more pressing concerns.
For now, the arguments over money have subsided.
They now spend each day living in anxiety with mounting medical bills and no source of income.
