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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesLabor Department to Help Displaced Hovensa Workers

Labor Department to Help Displaced Hovensa Workers

Because a hundred Triangle Corp. employees may be laid off due to competitor winning a project bid at the Hovensa refinery, the V.I. Labor Department is meeting with workers to plan a smooth transition, according to the Labor Department.
On Friday, Labor Commissioner Albert Bryan Jr. met with Our Virgin Islands Labor Union (OVILU) leaders from Turner St. Croix Maintenance, the project bid winners. The conversation centered around how those employees would be affected and what was the best way to make this transition as smooth as possible, according to a statement from Labor.
The 90-minute meeting also focused on new strategies to consolidate and maximize the use and development of skilled local labor, thereby limiting the importation of outside workers.
Triangle told Labor earlier this month that Turner had won the bid at Hovensa and as a result they anticipate dropping about 90-100 employees. Labor then contacted the companies and the unions to update them on the services offered by Labor to make this a smooth transition and limit any loss time to be experienced by workers.
Turner officials told Labor that while it had won the contract, it was not really active or affecting employment yet as Hovensa had not issued any new projects. By the same token, Turner officials said the transition would most likely bring a gradual rather than an immediate increase in their workforce numbers as Triangle would be finishing out projects already in progress.
As new projects are issued, Hovensa will increase their manpower to accommodate the workload.
Labor will host a rapid response workshop later this month where affected employees can pre-apply for Turner jobs that come available as projects start to come online. This will help Turner recruit local talent and fill positions as quickly as possible, according to the statement from Labor. All vacancies will be posted at the Labor Department.
At the meeting, Labor Department and union officials also talked about creating a craft guild in the territory, which would be a permanent database of registered skill labor in the territory, particularly construction and industrial crafts.
OVILU has committed to working with the department to make the guild a reality, according to Labor. With union help, training and apprenticeship programs are planned to take off later this year, according to Bryan.
“Over the past four years we have been working closely with Hovensa, its subcontractors, and the Workforce Board to develop credible training programs designed to increase our skill base," said Bryan. Follow-up meetings are scheduled for the week of Sept. 20.

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