(Trinidad Guardian) Several weeks after Massy Holdings declared a 20 per cent increase in profits, its subsidiary, Massy Stores, terminated nine front-end supervisors who it deemed as a surplus to its operations last Thursday.
Contractors and General Workers’ Trade Union (CGWTU) president general Ermine De Bique-Meade said the supermarket chain dismissed nine single mothers last week despite ongoing talks.
Furthermore, the union claimed the supermarket reviewed its operations and determined it had 67 surplus management employees, suggesting the company may seek to retrench 58 more.
The supervisors worked at the Diego Martin, St Augustine, Marabella, Gulf View, Westmoorings, Moka, Alyce Glen, San Juan and Marabella branches. Five had just over ten years of service, with the others ranging from four to six. They supervised the front sections of the supermarkets, ensuring cashiers performed accurately and tended to customer concerns and queries.
At a media conference at the CGWTU headquarters in San Fernando, De Bique-Meade noted Massy Holdings had reported group profit after tax from continuing operations of $514.41 million for the nine months ended June 30, which was a 20 per cent increase over $427.78 million reported for the same period in 2022.
She said Massy Stores wrote the CWGTU on August 9, inviting the executive to a meeting the following day to discuss commercial operations changes. She said the company indicated it had reviewed its operations and identified a surplus of staff in the front-end section that made some positions redundant and submitted a list of employees for retrenchment using the last in, first out system.