Ex-Carlisle Workers Protest in Trinidad
Former employees of a Trinidad & Tobago based tyre factory acquired by Carlisle Tire & Rubber in 1995 have protested over severance money owed to them for more than a dozen years. Earlier this year the country’s Industrial Court ordered Carlisle, who took over the assets of the Caribbean Tyre Company, to pay more than TTD$10.6 million (£854,000) in outstanding benefits, with a payment deadline of February 23. To date Carlisle has not complied with the court’s ruling.
The workers involved in the current protest were employed by the Caribbean Tyre Company Ltd, who made them redundant in 1995. The company paid 70 per cent of the workers’ severance with the promise that Carlisle would re-employ all of them. Carlisle closed down operations in Trinidad & Tobago in September 2003, allegedly after workers began protesting working conditions and outstanding wages. About 400 employees lost their jobs during the closure.