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Numb3r4 wrote:Any word on that Union action?
Numb3r4 wrote:Any word on that Union action?
Numb3r4 wrote:Headlines stated that Roget wanted to split the company into 4. What 4 parts he thinking of exactly?
Curtms wrote:Land ?
Numb3r4 wrote:Headlines stated that Roget wanted to split the company into 4. What 4 parts he thinking of exactly?
Numb3r4 wrote:Wait aren't the functions of E&P the same as that of Trinmar, why the separation? That doesn't solve anything you're just duplicating everything. You don't need multiple Drilling and Workover Depts. just one to work across the range of environments.
R&M Okay that would need its own thing....
Medical....well boy...that....that may very well need to be cut drastically......and to be quite frank I think this might get cut right up front because let's face it retirees don't really have seat at the table...Union isn't in a good position and they have little else to offer if anything at all. To be honest if splitting Trinmar and E&P is the height their ideas then I'm sorry for the workers who are following them.
kstt wrote:vaiostation wrote:nervewrecker wrote:Field police telling me there is talk of contracting out the work to a private security firm.
Hearing that for years now, but just recently they hired a bunch of Estate Police...
Remember Petrotrin has a union, so they can't just make a decision to contract out an entire department just so...
It is being rumoured that Amalgamated will be manning the gates.
A&V boss on obstructing justice charge
$150,000 bail for Baksh
Kevon Felmine
Published:
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
A&V Oil and Gas Ltd CEO Hanif Nazim Baksh makes his way to the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court yesterday. PICTURE RISHI RAGOONATH
Embattled A&V Oil and Gas Ltd CEO Hanif Nazim Baksh appeared in the San Fernando Magistrate’s Court yesterday, charged with attempting to obstruct the course of justice.
The matter is related to the alleged assault case involving Guardian Media Ltd’s senior photographer Kristian De Silva on September 15 last year.
Presiding in the San Fernando First Court yesterday, Senior Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine read the charge that on November 9, 2017, at Penal, Baksh, knowingly or reasonably believing Khusial Motiram was a potential witness in a criminal investigation into the assault of De Silva and the malicious damage of property belonging to De Silva, for which Baksh was a suspect, used threats to influence Motiram to give false evidence and withhold true evidence.
Baksh was represented by former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC and former deputy chairman of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) Michael Rooplal.
Baksh, the father of former government senator Allyson Baksh, was not called upon to plead as the charge was laid indictably.
He was arrested on Thursday at his home along Nazim Avenue, San Francique, following an investigation by the Police Complaints Division. Following an identification parade at the San Fernando Police Station on Saturday, Ag ASP Joseph Chandool laid the charge. He was able to secure bail of $150,000 at the police station ahead of his appearance yesterday.
Although Antoine granted that the bail continued, Baksh remained at the court for several hours seeking approval from the Clerk of the Peace.
Baksh is jointly charged along with his son-law Cpl Billy Ramsundar, a police officer with 25 years service with the the assault on De Silva and malicious damage while outside A&V Oil and Gas Ltd at Nazim Avenue, San Francique.
Moves to privatise Petrotrin
CARLA BRIDGLAL
AS PETROTRIN restructures in an attempt to return to profitability, the state oil company needs to manage and in some cases mitigate the power and influence of two of its biggest stakeholders: government and the Oilfield Workers Trade Union.
“We have a number of stakeholders very visible in Petrotrin’s direction and life. One is the government, another is the union. And these two very visible entities have not clearly been able to find a comfortable spot in Petrotrin’s future,” company chairman Wilfred Espinet told Newsday, during an interview on the weekend.
Espinet is head of a new transition team that took over management of the compnay from March 1, upon the exit of former top executives. Because of this, observers — in particular creditors, whom the company desperately need to assuage — will be looking to see how the board manages its transition period and if the board can manage relationships to bring about harmony, stability, and ultimately, growth and profitability.
As a 100 percent state-owned company, government is inevitably entangled in the affairs of the company. The board itself is appointed by the President at the discretion of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It is also implicitly understood that government is a 100 percent guarantor of Petrotrin’s debt, estimated to be over $10 billion.
TIME TO WEAN GOVT OFF
The government is also, ironically, a creditor: the company owes it about $3 billion, including royalty payments. Any disruption in Petrotrin’s ability to service its debts then, can have a ripple effect on the country’s own credit rating. “I think a lot of people will question if it can be done, not from the perspective that it couldn’t but because some of the stakeholders’ involvement and influence in the process,” Espinet said. Regarding the government, Espinet said, the challenge comes from the fact that culturally and historically, government’s involvement in Petrotrin has been very deep. “We are trying to discourage that kind of closeness to allow us to come out of it,” Espinet said. The company recognizes the need to wean itself off government.
Regarding the company’s debt in relation to the government’s capacity for borrowing and the country’s credit rating, Espinet said the board is now trying to convince government to consider a process that will separate that. “We would like to believe that one day, Petrotrin should be able to stand on its own,” Espinet said.
The way the board sees it, he said, Petrotrin isn’t owned by government — it’s owned by the State...that is, the people. That dichotomy often gets muddled. “I don’t think the platform of any government is that they want to run Petrotrin. The question is how can we discourage it from happening,” Espinet said.
Last year, a committee headed by Ministry of Energy Permanent Secretary Selwyn Lashley, reviewed the company’s operations. Among its findings, aside from the suggestion that the company should be split into separate operational entities, was the need to ring-fence government from a state asset that is operating in a commercial productive sector.
PETROTRIN, OWTU IN DEEP TALKS
Our system does not work well with a government interfering in that process. A government is inevitably a temporary position and they may do things with the asset that may be in their interest but not necessarily the State’s,” Espinet said.
There’s a bigger end game than just fixing the company’s problems in the short term, he said, and inherent in the restructuring process is to protect the company for future involvement, and bring about a measure of continuity.
With every new government, a new board is installed, along with new members of senior management, stymieing the transfer of critical institutional knowledge, that is ultimately not in the best interest of the company, even if it is politically expedient.
Key to the company’s transformation though, is the human capital, and Espinet diplomatically noted there was some “sensitivity around negotiations” with the majority union, the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU). “We have to be practical about what we can say without having the other party upset,” he said. Public commentary has to be “extremely careful”, but Espinet acknowledged that both parties are in “deep discussion.”
The good news, he said, is that both Petrotrin and the union have been able to find common ground. “That makes the situation salvageable,” he said.
Asked about the nature of the conversation, whether it includes wage and personnel cuts, for example, Espinet said it was “total negotiation happening.” Efficiency inevitably brings up the concept of privatization, something the union especially has been adamantly against.
Citing the Lashley Report, Espinet noted that Petrotrin needs two things: money and technical expertise—neither of which has been readily available in the current operating environment. Among the permutations for privatization (or at least reduced to no government control, Espinet suggested some sort of public offering, partnerships or even some sort of employee ownership. “But you can’t go to the stock exchange if you’re not profitable,” he said.
OWTU, Petrotrin sign MOA on restructuring
Kevon Felmine
Published:
Thursday, April 5, 2018
A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) has been established by the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) and Petrotrin to establish a working committee to oversee the restructuring of the struggling oil company over the next 18 months.
At the OWTU’s Public Policy Breakfast Forum at Paramount Building, San Fernando, yesterday, the union’s president general Ancel Roget gave an assurance to Petrotrin workers and the public that the restructuring exercise will now be in good hands due to the union’s involvement.
The MOA paves the way for the establishment of the division of Petrotrin into four entities that would form the foundation for a hopeful return to profitability.
The four entities the union proposed were: Land: North and East (LNE), Trinmar Offshore Operations, Exploration and Production and the Augustus Long Hospital.
Following a 13-hour meeting between the OWTU and representatives of Petrotrin’s Board of Directors at Paramount Building on Tuesday, an agreement was signed by Robert Riley, advisor to Petrotrin’s Board and Roget.
In the memorandum, Petrotrin and the OWTU agreed to establish a working committee comprising representatives of both parties that will work over the next 18 months to “address, resolve and agree on the four organisational structures, work processes and skills/competencies and manpower requirements which will make the company internationally competitive, thus ensuring its survival, sustainability and profitability.
“The parties agree to a timetable for these meetings commencing in the month of April 2018 with the enhancement of operational efficiencies, reduction of waste and the promotion of the business of the company.”
Roget told the audience, comprising of trade unionists of the Joint Trade Union Movement, that the OWTU will be ensuring the viability, sustainability and profitability of the company.
“We were able to sign a Memorandum of Agreement detailing how this company is going to be divided, the work that is going to be done and the time-frame which we have to complete the reorganising of the company. Rest assured, you the public of T&T, that the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago is in good hands and we will ensure that this company is here to stay for the benefit of all,” Roget said.
But while there were high hopes for Petrotrin, Roget criticised the Government for the state of labour relations and unemployment, saying that it had failed at regulating multinational companies. Roget said many foreign companies operating in T&T were filling positions with foreigners while there were qualified and competent citizens being overlooked.
“Our Government stands idly by and allows that to happen like everything else. We have no choice but to understand the environment which we are operating in and to prepare ourselves to call it as we see it and of course, most importantly, take action to defend those assets and to defend our labour and invaluable contributions,” Roget said.
Petrotin officials did not respond to queries on the details of the MOA.
Numb3r4 wrote:Wait aren't the functions of E&P the same as that of Trinmar, why the separation? That doesn't solve anything you're just duplicating everything. You don't need multiple Drilling and Workover Depts. just one to work across the range of environments.
R&M Okay that would need its own thing....
Medical....well boy...that....that may very well need to be cut drastically......and to be quite frank I think this might get cut right up front because let's face it retirees don't really have seat at the table...Union isn't in a good position and they have little else to offer if anything at all. To be honest if splitting Trinmar and E&P is the height their ideas then I'm sorry for the workers who are following them.
Do not forget HRCS, which is a business entity by itself.Specialist Baboons wrote:Numb3r4 wrote:Wait aren't the functions of E&P the same as that of Trinmar, why the separation? That doesn't solve anything you're just duplicating everything. You don't need multiple Drilling and Workover Depts. just one to work across the range of environments.
R&M Okay that would need its own thing....
Medical....well boy...that....that may very well need to be cut drastically......and to be quite frank I think this might get cut right up front because let's face it retirees don't really have seat at the table...Union isn't in a good position and they have little else to offer if anything at all. To be honest if splitting Trinmar and E&P is the height their ideas then I'm sorry for the workers who are following them.
So presently it’s:-
1. LN&E which is the onshore exploration
2. TRINMAR which is offshore exploration
3. R&M which is Refining & Marketing at Pointe a Pierre.
The four SBU’s are:-
1. E&P which was LN&E
2. TRINMAR still the marine exploration
3. Refining which is R&M
4. Medical which is the Augustus Long Hospital and the Medical Center at Guaracara Park
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