Vincent Cabrera

The general secretary of National Trade Union Centre (Natuc) and president of the Banking and General Workers’ Union (BIGWU) Vincent Cabrera says trade unionists and protesters should have been allowed to march during the Fifth Summit of the Americas. The gathering of 34 heads of government, which started on Friday, ended yesterday in Port-of-Spain.

Although Cabrera had decided not to march, he said: “Trade unionists and protesters should have been allowed to march. When we have a problem, we take up a placard and picket. “It is a way of expressing our view to the public. I would not have taken lightly to the fact that a trade union group is not being allowed to march.”

An alternative

He felt there should have been some alternative for protesters in a democratic society. “Even though we made that decision, other groups should be allowed to march. The police is there to provide security. “There was some way they could have marched where it would not have constituted a security risk.”

Quizzed on why he decided not to protest, Cabrera said: “Certain decisions and discussions were taken, and that is all I am prepared to say.” On Wednesday and Thursday, the Workers’ Forum met at UWI in St Augustine, to discuss issues relating to the labour force. “The trade union movement met. We had trade unionists from Canada and America. We even had representatives from Cuba. “The view would be presented to the Foreign Ministers of the OAS.” He said workers were saddled with “the perfect storm of crises.”

He described the perfect storm of crises in the Americas as an economic financial crisis. “There is a social crisis and a crisis in the labour market. There is also an environmental crisis. “All of these crises are beginning to bear on the workers of the trade union. In this perfect crisis, we feel the workers should not be forced to pay for the crisis. “I have not seen the final document. It is the perfect storm of crises. We are saying workers should not be made to pay.”