At its regular weekly meeting held on Tuesday, June 25^th, the Group of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs discussed extensively the situation at Caroni (1975) Ltd, and, in particular the decisions announced by the Government with respect to the restructuring of that company. It is to be noted that three of the key stakeholder Unions at Caroni are active members of the Group of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs. These are: the Trinidad Islandwide Cane Farmers’ Association (TICFA) – the organization representing cane-farmers; the Sugar Industry Staff Association (SISA) which represents all the monthly paid junior staff at Caroni; and the Association of Technical Administrative and Supervisory Staff (ATASS) which represents the monthly paid senior staff. In addition, the Estate Police Association which is also a stakeholder at Caroni and the Agricultural Association of T&T both work closely with the Group of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs.

It is to be recalled that the Group of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs has been taking a very proactive approach on the issue of the future of Caroni and the sugar industry in general and in fact held, in conjunction with the OWTU, an extremely successful Pubic Policy Forum in April on the issue. In fact, this Forum was a virtual people’s parliament and enabled public debate between the Government and all stakeholders. In the absence of a national Parliament, our Public Policy Forum has been the only space for the full ventilation of all the issues.

The position of the Group of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs on Caroni and the sugar industry is as follows:

• There should be no decision about the future structure and role of Caroni without the agreement of all stakeholders in the company as well as a full public ventilation of the issues and the input of civil society.

• Trinidad and Tobago must continue to have a sugar industry since sugar is an important input for the food processing industry and there are very valuable downstream products to be obtained from sugar as well as from the caneplant.

• Caroni (1975) Ltd. must continue as a state enterprise responsible for the sugar industry and for the expansion of agricultural output in non-sugar crops.

• Caroni (1975) Ltd must become more efficient in its production of sugar, and to this end all mismanagement and corrupt practices need to be weeded out.

• The recommendation that the growing of cane become the responsibility of farmers is positive with respect to the improved efficiency of Caroni. However, any reduction in the company’s workforce that would result must be based upon agreement with the Unions concerned and the affected workers should be given the opportunity to become independent cane-farmers, amongst other options that would enable them to secure their future.

• Voluntary Separation of Employment Programmes implemented elsewhere have worked against the interests of both the individual workers as well as the company. We therefore oppose the VSEP as it is currently being contemplated. Further, there should be no reduction in employment unless there is an explicit agreement with the Unions concerned.

• None of Caroni’s land should be sold, as this is part of the country’s patrimony, nor should any good agricultural land be utilized for non-agricultural purposes. There should be no opportunity for speculation with the land. In addition, we call for an independent forensic audit of the sale/lease of all Caroni land that occurred in the last ten years, since previous Boards may have given away land to friends, family and others with party connections.

The Group has mandated the various Unions that are stakeholders at Caroni to develop a major Joint Policy Position on the sugar industry and Caroni (1975) Ltd in particular. This is an important national issue and narrow partisan interests and agendas must not be allowed to cloud the issues or to prevent the country from deciding the best way forward. We also reject those who are engaged in duplicity on this issue, whereby their positions on restructuring have been determined more by loyalty to party in office rather than the defence of either the workers or the industry.