Warner has a plan to keep Chaguanas borough contractors employed

Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner meets Monday with Chaguanas Mayor Natasha Navas to work out a plan for 54 retrenched contract workers in the borough to continue working until at least the end of September.

Navas announced shortly after taking office that a budget shortfall means that the corporation would not have the funds to pay the workers. She blamed her predecessor, Suruj Rambachan, for not planning effectively to deal with the problem and keep the contractors on the job.

Rambachan has hit back at Navas, saying she doesn't have a clue about what's going on.

Last Thursday opposition leader Basdeo Panday met with a group of the retrenched workers at the office of Orlando Nagessar, the deputy mayor of the borough and promised to write Local Government Minister Hazel Manning about the problem.

It was Panday's first foray into the Chaguanas West constituency after his announcement that MP Jack Warner had "sold out" to the PNM and that he would be the "surrogate father" for the constituents. He said Warner was not seeking the interests of the people because he was never around.

Warner was in Nigeria at the time on FIFA business and promised to deal with Panday and Nagessar on his return.

Warner spoke with the Trinidad Guardian Sunday during a stopover in new York on his way home. He confirmed what both Navas and Nagessar said: that the 54 workers had to be retrenched, due to lack of funding.

"We have a plan to tide them over, and I’ve been discussing it with the mayor recently. All of the workers will be employed until September," Warner promised, adding that he would reveal the details after meeting with the mayor.

Warner is planning to open a private political office in Panday's Couva North constituency on Friday.