PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – The labour movement has ended its honeymoon with the year-old Kamla Persad Bissessar government outlining a series of protest actions culminating with a shut down of the country after accusing the coalition People’s Partnership government of reneging on promises made prior to the May 24 general election last year.
“The general strike will come like a thief in the night. It could be one day or it could be many days,” President General of the powerful Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget said.
Union leaders who gathered at Fyzabad, south of the capital on Sunday for the traditional Labour Day rally, outlined eight demands which the government must adhere to including removing the five per cent wage hike that the administration has been presenting to labour unions negotiating pay increases for public workers.
They have also called for the government to settle wage negotiations with teachers.
Roget told hundreds of workers gathered that the unions are also demanding the immediate removal of the inter-ministerial committee, placing labour legislation high on its legislative agenda, dealing with constitutional reform, commencing the process for the development of a land use and agricultural policy, reinstating all workers who have been displaced through no fault of their own and reviewing the national youth policy. (CMC)
