Home / Business & Money / Former CLICO Workers Stage Protest

Former CLICO Workers Stage Protest

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad CMC – The Banking Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) Monday, criticized the Trinidad and Tobago government for “abandoning” former employees of the collapsed Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO) as they staged a protest march outside the office of Finance Minister Larry Howai.

The workers are demanding an end to what they claim the state of confusion regarding the future direction of the company. They allege that since the closure of CLICO they have been subjected to abuse from government and the general public.

BIGWU president, Vincent Cabrera, told reporters that the public should sympathize with the workers.

“For five years they have had no wage increases, they have endured the abuse of the public who blamed the workers for what went down at CLICO although the workers are not to blame for the situation,” he said, adding that workers have lost the ability to even go to a bank and get a loan.

“Their policies at CLICO are not being accepted by the banks as collateral either. So what you have is a government that seems not to know how to govern,” Cabrera added.

When he delivered the national budget in October last year, Howai said that “substantial progress” had been made in resolving the financial troubles of the regional insurance giant.

Trinidad and Tobago government had in 2009, mounted a multibillion-dollar rescue plan for CLICO and its parent, CL Financial group, then controlled by Lawrence Duprey.

Howai told legislators then that the CLICO issue had dragged on “for far too long” and that he wanted to bring it to a close in 2012.

He said that the cost to the government for CLICO, as well as the Hindu Credit Union, “has been substantial – an amount of TT$19.7 billion or 13 percent of our current GDP”.

In August this year, the government announced that over eight billion dollars (One TT dollar =US0.16 cents) worth of CLICO’s profitable business would be transferred to Atruis, a new state-owned company.

“Cabinet has approved the establishment of the company and a portfolio of assets sufficient to meet its commitments as well as approved third-party obligations will be transferred to it,” Howai said.

At its annual general meeting in July, CL Financial shareholders voted to extend the agreement with government for a month while Cabinet decided on a new framework accord to recover the debt owed to Government through divestment of CL subsidiaries, including Methanol Holdings, Republic Bank, Angostura Holdings, CL World Brands and Home Construction Ltd.

Cabrera told reporters that earlier this year Howai had given workers an assurance that all matters regarding employment would have been expedited.

“What we are saying, if you are closing down the company and you are coming with a new company and you are retrenching the workers, go along and retrench them, that is what you want to do although you do not support retrenchment.

“But don’t keep workers in limbo for over five years. Workers don’t know if they are going or they are coming. They don’t know what is happening and there is a stone wall of silence from the government,” Cabrera said, adding that workers would continue their protest for the week if they do not get a positive response.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Scroll To Top