Injunction granted against Petrotrin terminations

Trinidad and Tobago’s Industrial Court has granted an injunction to halt the termination of Petrotrin workers under the NOC’s restructuring process, local media reported Tuesday.

Requested by the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union, the injunction will hold until at least October 30, to allow the court time to determine whether or not Petrotrin began closing its Pointe-à-Pierre refinery before seeking adequate consultation.

In response to the court’s decision, Petrotrin chairman Wilfred Espinet told reporters that the NOC would consider all options to protect its interests, including bankruptcy.

“If it prevents the company from being completely destroyed and despite how unpalatable it may be, protection through the courts must be looked at as an option in these circumstances,” Espinet said, cited by the Trinidad Express.

Finance minister Colm Imbert over the weekend had warned against the granting of an injunction against debt-laden Petrotrin.

“If the company is not allowed to proceed with its restructuring and shed its loss-making entity, then […] we will be forced to give more and more government guarantees, which will destroy our credit rating,” the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian quoted the minister as saying. “It will affect the entire country as a whole.”