Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus said yesterday she suspected that over 5,000 people have lost their jobs in the last seven months as T&T continues to go through economic challenges.
“I will give you what my suspicions are in terms of the unemployed from September to now. I suspect they may be in the vicinity of 5,000 or a little beyond that,” Baptiste-Primus told reporters at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.
Although the Central Statistical Office should be the agency to provide data of the unemployment rate, Baptiste-Primus gave an approximation of those terminated and assured that a new mechanism was being put in place to capture precise figures on the number of people who were retrenched recently.
Asked if Government would look at legislation to protect all workers, including contract employees, Baptiste-Primus said there was need for amendments to the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act and the Companies Act “in terms of providing workers with the required protection.”
She said Government would engage soon in consultation with the private sector and labour movement “on the amendments on these two pieces of legislation.”
Once the Government got a response from those two groups, Baptiste-Primus said they would approach Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi “in that regard.”
Baptiste-Primus described as “distressing” the closure of ArcelorMittal and the retrenchment of its 644 workers who were sent home without any benefits.
“Many of them had given upwards of 20 years of service to ArcelorMittal and they go home with one months’ salary,” she added. While Baptiste-Primus has been appealing to employers not to send home workers, she said Government intended to help those who lost their jobs.
Insisting that being put out of work affect people and families socially, physically, economically, psychologically and mentally, Baptiste-Primus said Cabinet had agreed to roll out a ten-point plan, focusing on treating with people who were no longer employed.
She said the objective of the plan was to provide immediate, short and medium term assistance to those who were terminated. So far, Baptiste-Primus said the Ministry of Labour has held collaborative meetings with several ministries and also the T&T Mortgage Finance (TTMF), Bankers Association of T&T, the International Labour Organisations, T&T Manufacturers’ Association and National Energy Skills Centre.
Government was also exploring job opportunities for locals in Caricom countries. She said the plan, which would cost Government over $600,000 would look at the development of soliciting new jobs, matching skills, training and retraining, formation of small businesses and psychological and financial counselling to the unemployed and their families.
In addition, a hotline would be established to connect the retrenched individual to a web of services, she added.
Baptiste-Primus said Government held discussions with the financial sector in adopting a humane approach with those who were sent home but still had outstanding loans and mortgages.
Recently, Baptiste-Primus said the TTMF came up with creative ways to lessen the financial burdens for 50 of its clients who had lost their jobs by extending the time frame to pay their mortgage. “What we suspect is that there is a large volume of unemployed persons out there who may have experience but are uncertified,” she added.
Baptiste-Primus said Government was not in a position to provide jobs for all the unemployed people in T&T and on April 5 a job expo would be in Couva to provide counselling and advice to unemployed people who were going through difficult and trying situations.
Baptiste-Primus said in this time of economic depression people needed to survive. “Surviving may mean looking at jobs that you may not have previously considered. It may also mean a reduction in the income and type of benefits that you have earned,” she added.
She said people who were jobless may have to think differently by seeking certification for a skill that they possessed but never utilised because of the economic situation the world and T&T have been facing.
“People would adapt,” she added.