Horace McLean, a resident of Orangefield, St Catherine, believes the closure of Windalco would deal a devastating blow to nearby communities. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

AN AIR of uncertainty sits over some north St Catherine communities as residents brace for major reper-cussions from the pending closure of the West Indies Alumina Company (Windalco).

The alumina-producing company announced on Monday that it intends to cut the positions of 250 temporary employees as it moves to suspend operations at its Kirkvine plant in Manchester and its Ewarton plant in St Catherine.

Windalco said the shutdown would be temporary, but the news has sent tremors down the spines of many taxi operators, shopkeepers, bartenders, housewives and labourers in communities such as Cotton Piece, Ewarton and Orangefield.

Businesswoman Jean McKenzie is already feeling the effects of the Windalco shutdown. Two months ago after Windalco sent home 150 workers as the demand for alumina remained flat on the world market, McKenzie's business also took a nosedive.

Dining customers

"I may have to close down business, especially the restaurant," McKenzie told a Gleaner news team at her bar in Ewarton. Most of her dining customers were bauxite workers, she said.

"I am very worried about the closure. When I heard the news yesterday (Monday), my head started to hurt. If the bauxite company closes, I may have to close too," McKenzie explained.

With the downturn in the bauxite sector, she said daily revenue was sometimes a mere $1,000. McKen-zie says her business experienced a 90 per cent reduction in traffic, which has fuelled her unease.

In Orangefield, Horace McLean, secretary of the citizens' associa-tion, summed up the pending closure of Windalco in one word: "Devastating!"

"It is going to have far-reaching effects on us," he predicted.

In October, McLean lost his job as a maintenance worker at Windalco when the company began sending home workers.

"We knew that the plant may close down, but we never thought it was going to happen so (quickly). I thought it could have survived until year end," McLean said.

Another former Windalco employee told The Gleaner that the community had long been feeling Windalco's economic pain and the forecast seemed to be grim.

Try to save

"Not even the housewife or the day's worker is spared," the worker, who declined to disclose his name, reasoned. He said that even miners who would often give their clothes to women to wash would have to reconsider this 'luxury'.

"Everybody is going try to save the extra dollar now and don't be surprised if you see them putting their private cars on the road to use as taxis," he said.

Meanwhile, in the community of Cotton Piece, one shopkeeper contended that Windalco's non-operation would not hurt his business and said claims that the entire community would be adversely affected were overblown.

"Di youth dem from here nuh really work deh because dem fear fi dem health ... di caustic soda and the acid," the shopkeeper said.

He added that the only thing the community will miss is money for dust, which is $350 per room each time a house is affected by the mining operations.

However, across the street from his establishment, a group of bingo-playing women were furious about the decision to close the plant.

"If dem duh dat, weh wi ago get dust money, Christmas work and shutdown money from?" one woman remarked.

The woman said residents who received subventions to cover medical bills in relation to asthma and other respiratory illnesses, could be in jeopardy.

"If dem lock down, wi still have asthma an mi nuh know how wi a go manage," she said.

The anaemic job market is the greatest fear of laid-off workers desperate to survive.

As McLean puts it: "If we can't get any employment, it is going to be difficult for us. We will be hurting. What has happened now indicates that there are some very bad days ahead."

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com