RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith has giv­en per­mis­sion for the Labour Day march to be held this year. Joint Trade Union Move­ment pres­i­dent An­cel Ro­get made the an­nounce­ment on Fri­day fol­low­ing weeks of un­cer­tain­ly about whether the an­nu­al cel­e­bra­tions would be af­fect­ed by the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic.

How­ev­er at a press con­fer­ence at Para­mount Build­ing head­quar­ters of the Oil­field Work­ers’ Trade Union in San Fer­nan­do yes­ter­day, Ro­get told work­ers not to join the tra­di­tion­al march to Char­lie King Junc­tion, Fyz­abad. On­ly two rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Bankers and In­sur­ance Gen­er­al Work­ers Trade Union, Amal­ga­mat­ed Work­ers Union, All Trinidad Gen­er­al Work­ers Trade Union, Postal Work­ers Trade Union, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Work­ers Trade Union, T&T Uni­fied Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion, the T&T Reg­is­tered Nurs­es As­so­ci­a­tion and the Oil­field Work­ers Trade Union will be al­lowed to take part.

The JTUM leader said so­cial dis­tanc­ing pro­to­cols will be fol­lowed and ac­tiv­i­ties will con­form with the Min­istry of Health’s reg­u­la­tions. 

“We ask the sup­port­ers who are anx­ious to come out to please stay away this year.  We don’t want the event to be skewed or de­railed where de­trac­tors move from the fo­cus of the mes­sage to point out a con­fronta­tion with the po­lice.

We are about law and or­der. We will not al­low the de­trac­tors to have the ben­e­fit of say­ing we caused a resur­gence of COVID 19. That’s why I am ap­peal­ing to our com­rades to stay away. Do not march. Let us not give them an op­por­tu­ni­ty to de­rail us,” Ro­get said.

“Ab­solute­ly no one in the coun­try rep­re­sents your in­ter­ests. We have an agree­ment with the po­lice and they will be there to main­tain law and or­der.”

Ro­get said with T&T on the brink of elec­tions and the trade union move­ment will not be silent on the poor per­for­mance of the gov­ern­ment and the op­po­si­tion.

“It can­not be and will not be and shall not be that we have a Labour Day pri­or to gen­er­al elec­tions and trade unions do not com­ment on the per­for­mance of those giv­en the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to lead us. That will not hap­pen!

“We will be com­ment­ing on the per­for­mance of those who had that re­spon­si­bil­i­ty and those who have done things to pro­voke us and in­ter­fere with the labour class,” Ro­get said. 

He promised to make pub­lic a re­port on the OW­TU’s ef­forts to ac­quire the Pointe-a-Pierre re­fin­ery and the al­leged con­spir­a­cy by the Op­po­si­tion to de­rail the process.

“We will be speak­ing about the UNC Op­po­si­tion in terms of an is­sue about putting thou­sands of work­ers back to ac­tive em­ploy­ment by a fal­la­cy, an emp­ty promise of open­ing back Petrotrin,” he said.

There will al­so be e re­port on the fail­ures of the gov­ern­ment over the past five years, he added.

Ro­get said JTUM of­fi­cials met with the Com­mis­sion­er on June 3 and cer­tain agree­ments were achieved. The march will be­gin prompt­ly at 9.30 am and end at 12 noon with a ral­ly.

A wreath-lay­ing cer­e­mo­ny will take place at 8.30 am at the grave Tubal Uri­ah But­ler in Fyz­abad, fol­lowed by an­oth­er at the grave of La Brea Charles, a But­ler look-alike who was gunned down by state po­lice on June 19, 1937.
There will be mo­tor­cade to­day from Rien­zi Com­plex, Cou­va, to Fyz­abad.