Recycling plant staff say they face the prospect of seeking alternative employment and having to reapply for just three jobs that will be available at a new Bailey's Bay recycling facility when it opens in 2007.

And the long-serving workers claim to have been left in the dark about the impact a new plant would have on their jobs.

Many of the 11 workers at the Devon Spring recycling plant have now broken their silence and spoken out about a tale of woe they have endured for the past three years.

They claim promised recycling training has never materialised and requests for updated equipment and machinery have been deferred with the promise it would be taken care of at the all-new recycling centre.

But what hurts most they say is having been left out of discussions and decisions about how the new plant will operate and who is to be employed when it becomes operational.

In a bid to have their voices heard the workers spoke to the Royal Gazette, although requested to remain unnamed in case it affects their employment.

For some of them recycling has been their primary job since the early 1990s. But despite long service and dedication to promoting and operating the Island's recycling programme they appear to be on the verge of not being recycled themselves when it comes to staffing the new facility.

"They've known about this new plant for three years yet now, six months before it is to open, the staff have been told to get new jobs and if they want to work at the new plant we will have to reapply for our jobs," said one worker.

"And we've been denied training that would move us forward. It was promised in April 2004 but we've never had it."

The staff at Devon Spring want to know why there has been what they perceive as secrecy regarding the new plant and who will be needed to work there and why the only people on the Island with extensive recycling experience have been excluded from the process.

It also appears staff have lost faith in their own upper management and want new Works and Engineering Minister Dennis Lister to step in.

"There are many things that the former Minister David Burch started and the present Minister needs to continue. We need to talk to someone other than upper management," said one of the workers.

"The public deserves answers to this whole recycling scandal."

They have welcomed Premier Ewart Brown's pledge to take civil servants to task if apathy towards Government programmes is suspected.

According to workers a meeting with management in April resulted in them being told they must find new work when the current plant closes.

One of the workers said: "Government plans to make this whole section redundant and that is why this is so unbelievable."

While another added: "We are the forefathers of recycling in Bermuda and they made us believe they were building a new plant because they did not want to spend money here. Then they did not give any new training — basically they are not recycling us.

"What drives this whole thing is that, in 2006, it is inexcusable that they build something new and none of the staff are involved. The whole recycling programme is between us and the public. We have been here from day one, interacting with the public and schoolchildren. Now they say there are only going to be three positions at the new plant."

The worker added: "We want Minister Lister to pick this up. It is unacceptable that they have dropped this bomb on us."

Other workers said they felt violated and disrespected by the way things have happened and only wanted to be treated fairly.

A request for a response to the workers' concerns and questions is currently being considered by the Ministry of Works and Engineering and is expected within the next day or two but was not available as The Royal Gazette went to press.