Carib Cement considering job cuts

[Lazie]

Anthony Haynes, General Manager of Caribbean Cement, (Gleaner Picture).

Caribbean Cement Company Limited says it is considering job cuts to help keep the business operational.
Faced with problems of a slow down in the construction sector, and dumped cement putting a strain on its market share, Caribbean Cement says it may have to cut staff to just to remain a viable entity.
According to Anthony Haynes, the company’s Managing Director, downsizing is being explored in an effort to reduce costs in line with contracting revenues.
“We need to look at all options at this point but we have been in discussions with the unions in regards to this and unfortunately, manpower rationalisation is always one option we have to look at. No decision has been made one way or the other but we have to consider all options at this point,” he said.
Labour the second largest expense
Caribbean Cement Company lost $213 million in the first half of this year.
However according to Mr. Haynes, he cannot give a figure on how much money the company needs to save going forward.
“It’s difficult to put a dollar value to it like that but more than 20% of our market has been eroded by the presence of these dumped cement. We carry fixed costs, so we can't absorb those fixed costs with the 20% carry that (and) labour is our second largest fixed costs, so we have to look at it,” Mr. Haynes told RJR’s Financial Report.
Carib Cement’s sister company also cutting jobs
Caribbean Cement’s revelation follows a similar move made on Monday by the cement manufacturers' sister company, Arawak Cement based in Barbados.
Dr. Rollin Bertrand, Chief Executive Officer of the TCL Group, says Arawak will shed half its workforce or about 133 of 250 jobs.
Dr. Bertrand said a contracting construction sector in Barbados and the decision of its CARICOM markets to waive the Common External Tariff on extra-regional cement were the main reasons behind the planned layoffs.
Both Caribbean and Arawak Cement companies are majority-owned by the TCL (Trinidad Cement Limited) Group.

[Lazie]

Unemployment biggest concern for J'cans

UNEMPLOYMENT and the economic crisis emerged as the major concerns among Jamaicans in a recent Don Anderson poll.
At the same time, more than half of the persons interviewed in the survey to determine how Jamaicans feel about morality and other social behaviour issues say they are opposed to newspapers publishing sexually suggestive photographs.

The poll, which was conducted May 3-14 among 500 persons aged 18 years and over islandwide, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 per cent at the 95 per cent confidence level.
Anderson noted that surveys conducted over the last five to 10 years have all pointed to crime and violence as the biggest concern amongst Jamaicans from all walks of life.

More at .. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...-finds_7970628

[Mosiah]

well, if this govt. did not allow others to dump their cement on us, maybe this could have been avoided.

oh well!

[Lazie]

well, if this govt. did not allow others to dump their cement on us, maybe this could have been avoided.

oh well!

Damn if they do, damn if they don't. Weren't there people like Garnett Roper complaining about the price being charged by CC? It is clear unuh in election mode.