By Sue-Ann Wayow
THOUSANDS of On the Job (OJT) trainees have not yet received their stipends for the month of July.
This is according to Member of Parliament for Couva South Rudranath Indarsingh who is calling on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to ensure payments be made to the trainees immediately.
In a press release on Tuesday, Indarsingh, the Opposition’s shadow representative for Labour and Tobago Affairs said this was the fourth consecutive month for which OJT trainees have been paid their stipends late by the Ministry of Labour.
He said recently, nursing students at the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) have also complained that they have not received their monthly stipends from the Government, and that the non-payment or late payment of these stipends have become a regular occurrence.
“We have also seen where workers at Lake Asphalt have also been victim of the non-payment of their wages by this Government for several months, with the future of the company at stake,” Indarsingh added.
He asked, “Is it that the future of the OJT programme is at stake? Is the Government aiming to cut the OJT programme in parts or altogether?”
Indarsingh also said Minister of Labour Stephen Mc Clashie has been silent on the issue.
Neither Minister Mc Clashie nor the coordinators of the OJT programme have communicated with the trainees regarding when they would receive their stipends, nor have they offered an explanation or solution for the new trend of disbursing stipends to trainees’ way after their stipulated pay date, he said.
The MP said, “Our own OJT trainees at the constituency office in Couva South and trainees across the country continue to suffer even as Minister Mc Clashie, Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley continue to receive their high salaries and perks on time and in full from the national treasury.”
