PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — After four hours of discussions yesterday between Minister of Labour Jennifer Baptiste-Primus and members of the Steel Workers Union of Trinidad and Tobago (SWUTT), it was determined that the future viability of the ArcelorMittal plant and its workers is uncertain.

However, the Government intends making the fired workers a priority.

Baptiste-Primus spoke to the media after the meeting, held at the SWUTT head office at Southern Main Road, California, where she said that a ten-point plan was set up by the ministry for retrenched workers.

The Labour Minister said she is meeting with the heads of financial institutions to hold discussions about loans and mortgages owed by former employees.

The follows the dismissal of 644 workers on Friday after ArcelorMittal shut down its steel plant at Point Lisas.

And former Prime Minister of the Republic, Kamla Persad Bissessar says ArcelorMittal’s reported $1 sale proposal for its plant could be a “cat in bag” trick and the entire shutdown of the company may very well be a ruse for Government to step in and play “saviour.”

She was speaking yesterday at the United National Congress (UNC) Women and Youth Congress at the party’s Couva South office.

Persad-Bissessar pointed out that Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi was ArcelorMittal’s attorney and he had come to the Senate in March 2015, while he was in Opposition, advocating for lower electricity rates for the company.

Al-Rawi was the steel giant’s attorney in its $33 million dispute with the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC).