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Petrotrin suspends production for two days
AP
PORT-OF-SPAIN
Petroleumworld.com 09 12 06Trinidad Production at Trinidad's only oil refinery has been suspended for two days due to a high level of worker absences, an official said Friday.
Arnold Corneal, a spokesman for state-owned Petrotrin, said he could not say whether the absences were related to a nine-month salary dispute. Work was stopped for days in July in what the refinery called a coordinated union protest over contract negotiations.
"It's been off-line for 48 hours," Corneal said by telephone. "Production is zero."
He said he did not know how many employees were out, but there were "enough so we couldn't function safely if we were running."
Negotiations between the refinery and the Oilfields Workers Trade Union have stalled, with the union seeking wage increases of up to 35 percent and the company offering 10 percent increases over three years.
Union officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The plant, located at Petrotrin's Pointe-a-Pierre site on Trinidad's southwest coast, produces some 160,000 barrels of refined gasoline, diesel and oil a day for domestic use and export to other Caribbean nations and the United States.
AP 11 09 06
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