DCP closes, Government to buy plant

Ninety four employees of the Colgate Palmolive, formerly the Dominica Coconut Products (DCP) will be without jobs on December 30th 2015 because the company is shutting its doors.

But Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit told the press on Thursday the Government of Dominica will save the day for the employees in the short and long term.

"The government will provide all the necessary support to mitigate against the loss of their employment," Skerrit said in a press statement.

He added: "The government has place a proposal before Colgate Palmolive for the acquisition of the property at DCP. It is the Government's intention to continue the operations once we can settle on the proposals that we put before Colgate Palmolive."

Colgate Palmolive announced its intention to close DCP during a general meeting on November 19, 2015.

That decision was probably influenced by extensive damage to the plant during the passage of Tropical storm Erika on 27 August 2015. But that is speculative since the DCP's management was unavailable to speak to the press.

Several of our calls to human resource manager Lucinda Alfred went unanswered and plant manager Edmund Buksh was not available for comment.

But an employee said the staff were instructed to avoid speaking to the press. Another said this latest layoff is "ridiculous".

In June 1995 DCP was sold to Colgate Palmolive, a private firm engaged in the manufacture and trade of soap and other detergent products.

It was incorporated in 1995 and conducts business from its registered head office at Belfast, Dominica.

The company is primarily involved in manufacturing and packaging soaps and other detergents such as laundry detergents, dishwashing detergents, toothpaste gels and tooth powders, natural glycerin, hand soaps, dentifrices, presoaks and toilet soaps.

The parent company, Colgate Palmolive Company, is incorporated in the United States of America.

Originally the company was named Dominica Coconut Products; it was formed by Elias Nassief in 1965 and was later owned by his son Phillip before its purchase by Colgate Palmolive 20 years ago.

DCP was then the oldest and most successful manufacturing entity in Dominica.