Councillors at the San Fernando City Corporation are running scared as they claim they are being threatened and their staff intimidated by people seeking casual jobs.
Pleasantville councillor Robert Parris made the claims at yesterday’s statutory meeting at the San Fernando City Hall where he called for some action to be taken to protect council members.
Parris said he had to park his car far away from his home and hide inside his house to avoid harassment at times.
He said he was even jeered at the supermarket for not providing casual jobs, something he says he has no control over. He said the story was the same for several other council members.
“I was even told by my OJT staff that someone came to the office about a month ago and said the norm is, ‘I will give you $200 to put me back on the list.’ I told her not to accept anything like that and no one should come there to intimidate them. During the day when I am not there, people would come to intimidate them and tell them all kinds of things.
“I said ‘No one is going to do that, I will protect you all.’ I would go to the grocery and you would have people saying ‘Paris, you don’t help nobody. You don’t help nobody get a job. People here want to work.’
“Same thing happened with councillor Shaka Joseph earlier last year. It has become dangerous for members of council and we all share the same view,” Paris added.
He said the Personnel Department within the corporation was responsible for casual employment in which the union recommended 60 per cent of the work force.
Out of the 30 per cent the Personnel Department hired, he said councillors were allowed to make recommendations for at least two people. He said their recommendations were usually members of impoverished families.
With many people seeking employment, he said, some people did not realise they would have to wait. He said when some people were interviewed, it was found they already had jobs and were looking for additional income.
“The whole system has become quite corrupt and people are seeing councillors and not understanding they have to wait until a certain time to get a job. They are coming and they are threatening us, trying to bribe members of our staff and it has got out of control,” he added.
Paris suggested the administrative arm of the corporation should do an advertisement to inform the public of the employment process.
Mayor responds
In response, Mayor Kazim Hosein said he intended to meet with the CEO today to discuss the threats to and harassment of councillors. He said municipal police officers would usually make checks at the homes and offices of the councillors since there have been complaints before. In addition, he ordered the corporation's chief executive officer Indarjeet Singh to obtain a report from the personnel department on the usual process for distributing casual jobs. He said each councillor was entitled to recommend three people for work fortnightly because they were the ones who interacted directly with the communities and would know the people in dire need of work.