Harsh and unjust.
That’s the Joint Trade Union Movement’s (JTUM) response to Atlantic LNG’s decision to retrench seven per cent of its permanent staff workforce as the company faces its toughest period in its 20-year history.
Criticising the move, however, JTUM’s secretary and Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union’s chief education and research officer, Ozzi Warwick, said the actions of the company were wrong and unfair to workers.
Speaking on a radio programme, Warwick said, “That method is an attempt again by employers who use this opportunity to cut staff. Could you imagine all the years that Atlantic LNG has been in this country making huge amount of profits, all these years, and you telling me that in the last year or two with the fall of commodity prices your first response is to cut staff. And this is the point that we have been making, that is inequitable, that is unjust, and that is unfair.”
Warwick said for years the company should share the burden of adjustment.
“The fact that they have been here utilising our resources over the years and maximising profits and now rather than saying let us see how we can share the burden of adjustment,” he added.
The company was expected to begin offering VSEP packages to at least 50 workers from yesterday in the face of falling energy prices and an unprecedented natural gas shortfall.
