Saturday March 20th, 2010
- Last update:7 min 17 sec ago
Unions main opposition to Govt says TIWU head
Published: 7 Oct 2009
Trade unions are now the main opposition group to the Government. So said Roland Sutherland, president of the Transport and Industrial Workers Union (TIWU). “The Government doesn’t listen to anyone, not to the opposition in Parliament, not to anybody,” he said. “Trade unions are not only the voice of the working people, but of the people of T&T at this point in time. We’re not only dealing with trade union issues, but other issues, like property tax.” Sutherland was speaking to a group of trade unionists yesterday in front of the Industrial Court, St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain.
“The only time the Government listened to anybody over the last year is when the trade union movement come together,” he said. “Just look at the decertification issue. It means that there is some aspect of the society they’re prepared to listen to and the only people they’re prepared to listen to are the trade unions. He said trade unions would continue to plan how they were going to deal with the issues that they faced. “We’ll be continuing dialogue with the rest of the trade unions on the way forward, because this is not a TIWU issue; it’s an issue for the trade union movement,” he said.
“It’s a question of decertification in the bargaining units in Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and the Public Transportation Service Corporation (PTSC) and also the suspension at Telecommunications Services of T&T (TSTT).
“I am hoping we’ll have some form of a meeting in which we will come up with some sort of collective action on the way forward.” He said the purpose of the meeting by the union members in front of the Industrial Court was to hear the union application to get the injunction lifted. Sutherland said the injunction was issued to PTSC through the Ministry of Labour to stop the action that PTSC workers took on September 14, when employees stopped working because of what the union claimed were health issues on the PTSC compound.
"Trade unions are now the
"Trade unions are now the main opposition group to the Government"
“The Government doesn’t listen to anyone, not to the opposition in Parliament, not to anybody”
"We’re not only dealing with trade union issues, but other issues"
From these statements and current news issues it could therefore be concluded that in T&T we have:
1) A government who will only listen to the people through a show of 'force'
2) Trade Unions 'acting up' as opposition
3) A divided and weak opposition
4) A government that disregards the opposition and the people
5) Dictatorship
6) Corruption
7) High levels of serious crime
8) A thriving underworld economy
9) No transparency and accountability in government related business
This is not unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue like this.
It is time for a
It is time for a multi-racial and multi-economic group political party to emerge which will effectively challenge and replace the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) at the next General Election. The country should be prepared to accept that the PNM today is but a simulacrum of the party which the late Dr Eric Williams created.
There can be no doubt in the minds of concerned citizens that the social, economic and moral issues arising out of positions adopted by the PNM Government and the Urban Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Udecott), specifically with respect to over budget Udecott projects and the Uff Inquiry, demand that the Government be replaced. While the cost overruns and the reported reasons which have been advanced as major contributory factors to these overruns are by themselves disturbing, Government’s reluctance, or is it refusal, to act makes many nationals uncomfortable.
Yet another point of concern has been the Administration’s increasingly clear opposition to the Separation of Powers of the Legislative, Executive and Judicial arms of Government. Briefly, the Legislative arm is invested with the power to make laws, the Executive to implement them and the Judicial to interpret those laws. The Separation of Powers is an important aspect of the Westminster system of Government which Trinidad and Tobago, as a former British colony, inherited at the time it achieved Independence in 1962.
Admittedly, in the UK there is a level of overlapping as the Lord Chancellor is a member of both the Executive, as a Cabinet Minister, and of the Judiciary which, incidentally, he heads. While the Lord Chancellor does, on occasion, sit as a member of the Appellate Committee and has even given dissenting opinions his sitting on the Appellate Committee is increasingly rare.
Meanwhile, in Trinidad and Tobago, a draft Constitution, which has been put forward by the PNM Government for study and comment, has advanced the creation of a Minister of Justice, in essence the Trinbagonian equivalent of a Lord Chancellor.
The fundamental difference, however, between the UK experience and what is being offered here is that while in the UK the process evolved in TT the draft Constitution seeks, tacitly, to impose Executive control of the Judicial arm. This is untenable. Perhaps I should add that even in the UK although there has never been any questionable intervention by the Executive in the independence of the Judiciary, nonetheless there have been moves to reform the system, re the Lord Chancellor. Given the above the draft Constitution’s proposed Ministry of Justice should be regarded as suspect. And with it the motives of Government.
I shift gears. There are sections of the Constitution which need to be amended yet have not been addressed by the draft. I refer to one — Section 77 (1) — which if sensibly amended would limit the power of a Prime Minister to intimidate MPs of a ruling Party. It is imperative that this section be amended as it confers on any office holder of Prime Minister, in the event of a vote of no confidence being passed in the Lower House against him, the power to advise the president to dissolve Parliament. The significance of this lies in the power of a political leader of the PNM to decide which candidates are selected to contest a general election under the Party’s banner.
Section 77 (1) should be redrafted so as to require a PM to resign as is largely done under the Westminster system, and clear the way for another member of the ruling Party to be put forward as PM. This, clearly, would be more in keeping with the democratic process than the absurd proposal for a Minister of Justice.
Earlier I had referred to Government’s handling of Udecott. It is strange that Government could have acted so expeditiously in ordering the Boards of TSTT and PTSC to withdraw motions seeking to have unions representing their workers decertified yet appears impotent to do something with respect to action taken by Udecott. Government’s action re Udecott and by extension the Uff Inquiry and its demonstrated plan, telegraphed by the Draft Constitution, to seek control of the Judiciary, along with other moves, are by themselves signals that concerned nationals should seriously consider the formation of a more citizen conscious political Party.
It is time for a
It is time for a multi-racial and multi-economic group political party to emerge which will effectively challenge and replace the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM)
Couldn't agree with you more.
UNIONS ARE ALSO MAIN
UNIONS ARE ALSO MAIN OPPOSITION TO UNIONS -
Unions and Opposition Parties are also unfortunately the main opposition to themselves. I do not see The Chamber, ECA, The Manufacturing Association and DOMA fighting among them, even though they compete in business. We can learn from them that unity is strength despite our differences.
The first step is for NATUC
The first step is for NATUC and SWWTU to fire the traitor on board if they want unity among themselves. The Opposition(s) must also get their act together with credible leadership.
WE MUST GET THEIR FULL
WE MUST GET THEIR FULL ATTENTION............
and let our voices be heard and in saying so the best way to get the message across to the whole country is through the media. The Unions must now have a "united voice" and also have a weekly rebuttal to the injustices on a Friday (after the cabinet update on Thursdays) and invite the media Guess what??? you'll get the message acrosss for FREE bro.
A major oil company here has recentily given out "policies and procedures" on Absenteeism and Disciplinary Action .This is to put the workers on their back feet for the ongoing negotiations.
Decirtification challenges will come again, in the form of the proposed "Energy Company of T&T" very similar to BWIA and Customs etc. You will be paid off and will have to re apply for you own job.
Seeing that this regime don't listen to anyone and/or is deaf,maybe we need to do it in POS with very very loud speakers . You will be supprised at the out come.
But be prepared for
But be prepared for Mugabe-type responses from Mugabe II.