A STATE-of-the-art recycling plant set to open next week could be instantly out of commission because of an ongoing dispute with Government workers.Premier Ewart Brown (pictured)<$><\p>is scheduled to open the new plant on Monday — but Works & Engineering staff at the current facility say they have not been trained to operate the new equipment and have been deliberately sidelined by Government.

The ten workers at the Devon Spring site declined to comment on the possibility of industrial action, but did say that they had the backing of other Government staff.

The Bermuda Industrial Union is now in negotiations with Works & Engineering management over their futures. The old facility is due to shut down once the new plant opens.

Staff claim that training was promised to them three years ago but has never materialised. They also said that they were told they would each have to reapply for the four job vacancies at the new plant — but that those vacancies have never been advertised.

And they were unaware that the new plant will be officially opened next week — until the Mid-Ocean News told them of the latest development.

“We haven’t been consulted about the new plant at all,” one worker, who asked not to be named, said.

“We haven’t even been told where the locker room is. This is just really bad management.

“From the beginning they’ve had no intention of bringing us in to the new plant. We’ve been totally shut out.

“How is it that we find ourselves being displaced? We’re facing a very uncertain future. We think we’re just going to be swept under the carpet.”

In January, Works & Engineering Minister Dennis Lister gave assurances that any staff not taken on at the new plant would be given jobs elsewhere in the department.

But the plant workers claim there is enough work for all of them to be employed in the recycling process.

They added that staff had between eight and 15 years of experience in the recycling industry — and that Government was wasting that knowledge.

One worker said: “The thing is, we’re the experts. How can you be serious about recycling when you’re not prepared to use that expertise?

“Government is saying that we can still have jobs, but doing what? We’re interested in careers, not jobs.

“We were told that we would have to reapply for the new jobs but a job description hasn’t even gone out yet. We were promised training three years ago but it has been denied us.

“We have never been informed about the new set-up. They are basically setting us up to fail, so that we will be forced to accept some sort of menial job somewhere else.

“With our experience there are people at the current plant capable of running the new plant but we’re being forced out. I don’t understand why we’re being forced out, I guess management has an ulterior plan which doesn’t involve us and that’s why we’re in this predicament.

“What it means is that the taxpayers’ dollars are not being spent well. You’ve got a programme but it’s not running at its best.

“We hope that there will be a resolution but it has to be a justified resolution.”

BIU negotiator Graham Nesbitt confirmed that the union was in talks with management, but declined to give details.

“I can say that we are close to bringing this matter to a close and we are looking forward to a resolution,” he said.

“Everything is possible and there are a lot of days left between now and when the new plant opens on Monday. The staff will still have new jobs on Monday — some will go to the new plant and the rest will be transferred.”

A Government spokesman declined to comment on the fate of the staff or who will be operating the new plant.