Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is re­ject­ing calls by the Steel Work­ers’ Union of T&T (SWUTT) for a chance at in­put in the re­open­ing of the for­mer Arcelor­Mit­tal steel plant in Point Lisas by Ibis Steel Com­pa­ny, say­ing the US-backed com­pa­ny is free to hire any cit­i­zen it con­sid­ers suit­able.

“Mr (Tim­o­thy) Bai­ley and his union had ten years to take over the plant or get an in­vestor and failed to do so. My job is to bring in­vest­ment to our coun­try, if some cit­i­zens want to chase out in­vestors, so be it, its their and their chil­dren’s fu­tures that they are de­stroy­ing, not mine or the for­eign in­vestors,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said yes­ter­day in re­sponse to the union’s calls at a me­dia con­fer­ence ear­li­er.

The Prime Min­is­ter said the US-based Pin­na­cle Steel and Vana­di­um is a pri­vate com­pa­ny and there is no ba­sis for re­strict­ing em­ploy­ment op­por­tu­ni­ties at its pro­posed Ibis Steel Com­pa­ny plant to for­mer steel work­ers.