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Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar maintains the government has to “make hard decisions now” as she addressed public concerns over the job losses being suffered by the cancellation of Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep) contracts and firing of Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) workers.

Hundreds of URP workers were terminated with immediate effect on September 10 and given one month's salary.

On June 27, some 10,500 Cepep workers and roughly 360 Cepep contractors were terminated and less than week later, 4,608 workers and contractors at the National Reforestation and Watershed Programme were fired.