The labour movement in T&T faced its worst crisis ever this year, according to Joseph Remy, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions (Fitun).
“It was a year where we believed that the labour movement faced its most dangerous threat to its existence.
“There was the whole issue of Petrotrin and the attack on the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) and after the attacks on the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) and this signalled to us that the labour movement was under serious attack by this regime,” he said
Remy, who appealed to workers and members of the trade union movement to “shed their ideological differences” and work together for the good of the sector, said: “Despite whatever side of the ideological side you are on, once you say that you belong to the labour movement then all governments will see you in one particular light.
“As such, this calls for people not to be fragmented any more but to be unified in purpose and intent because, at the end of the day, the destruction is at all fronts with the labour movement.”
Michael Annisette, Secretary General of the National Trade Union Centre (Natuc), said 2018 was a “disappointment” as there was “a concerted attack to undermine and marginalise the trade union movement and by extension the voice of the workers.”
He said: “Look at the Petrotrin issue, look at the Telecommunications Services Company in Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), the Port where the Government is starving it of finance to keep it going.
“Look at the issue of the outstanding negotiations that we have been raising at the National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC). All these were issues in our view that did not happen by accident. It was deliberate and created to have an atmosphere whereby the trust in the trade union would falter.”
Annisette said in the new year NATUC will be taking the fight to those who are trying to destroy the labour movement.
“We have been doing our critical analysis of all the issues affecting the labour movement. We deem 2019, the year of the fight back. There is an attempt to undermine certain union. We cannot have a Government being run on the basis of public relations,” he said.
Gabriel Faria, CEO of the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce said one of his main wishes in 2019 is for the labour movement and business to work together during this difficult economic period.
When asked to respond to this, Annisette said the trade union movement has always been opened to dialogue. However, he said, trade unionists are sceptical.
“When you have different interests the country will have these types of crisis. The business community must understand that we continue to have a widening gap in terms of income and wages.
“They cannot talk about working with the trade union movement if they are not serious,” he said.
