Daily paid workers from the Solid Waste Management Company Limited (SWMCOL) are demanding an increase in wages or the country’s landfills may be shut down.
Members of the Industrial General and Sanitation Workers Union yesterday held another protest outside both the Beetham and Guanapo landfills to have their wage negotiations finalised.
Workers gathered outside the landfills blocking the access road to the tipping area. This resulted in disruptions to service delivery at both landfills.
At about 10.15 am members of the company’s management, escorted by police officers, convinced the protesters to remove debris blocking the entrance to the landfills.
President of the union Robert Bencia said daily paid workers at the landfills worked in extremely hazardous conditions and they should be paid a fair wage.
He said if the wishes of the workers were not dealt with then there would be an increase in action which may lead to both landfills being shut down.
“If we don’t get a response from the CPO (Chief Personnel Officer) or the responsible ministers we will continue protest action. If we don’t get a response we may cause the shutdown of the landfills,” Bencia said.
Bencia said the workers were living on wages negotiated for the period 2008 to 2010 which were agreed on in 2012.
“Negotiations for the period of 2011-2013 have been effectively stalled by the failure of the inter-ministerial committee and the CPO’s office as they have not instructed the SWMCOL management to continue with negotiations.
“All of the non-cost items were agreed to nearly a year ago. We are in 2015 and we are saying we need to see progress,” he said.
Bencia said the daily paid workers have been underpaid for a long time and they deserved a raise in salary that was comparable to City Corporation workers.
He said the rates for the City Corporation workers were roughly 45 per cent more than SWMCOL daily paid workers.
He said at the lowest wage a daily paid worker could receive $157 a day and the highest, which usually goes to a skilled labourer, like a welder or fabricator, was $200 a day.
The lowest daily-paid worker from the Port-of-Spain City Corporation receives $235 a day and the highest-paid worker receives $379.
That was respectively a 66.8 per cent and a 53.3 per cent increase for the daily paid workers, he added.
“We have people doing some seriously dangerous work. Offer a decent pay to the workers. We work in one of the most hazardous places in the country. Our workers face serious health problems, like respiratory and skin diseases and even cancer. They deserve decent wages,” he said.
A release from Alison Awai, corporate communications specialist of SWMCOL, said: “The company continues to acknowledge the concerns as outlined by the workers and the company continues to make representation to the relevant bodies to ensure resolution of the issues at soonest.”