The Na­tion­al Trade Union Cen­tre of Trinidad and To­ba­go (NATUC) has called on the Prime Min­is­ter and the Gov­ern­ment to re­con­sid­er their re­fusal to con­sult with the Steel Work­ers' Union of Trinidad and To­ba­go (SWUTT) re­gard­ing the planned re­open­ing of the for­mer Arcelor­Mit­tal steel plant at the Point Lisas In­dus­tri­al Es­tate.

In a state­ment is­sued to­day, Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Michael An­nisette wel­comed the planned in­vest­ment by Pin­na­cle Steel and Vana­di­um Cor­po­ra­tion, op­er­at­ing through its lo­cal sub­sidiary, Ibis Steel Com­pa­ny, to re­fur­bish and restart the fa­cil­i­ty.

While ac­knowl­edg­ing the project's po­ten­tial to gen­er­ate em­ploy­ment and stim­u­late eco­nom­ic growth, NATUC said in­dus­tri­al re­vival must be ac­com­pa­nied by mean­ing­ful so­cial di­a­logue and re­spect for or­gan­ised labour.