Sascha Wil­son

Over 9,000 work­ers from var­i­ous trade unions are ex­pect­ed to con­verge on Char­lie King Junc­tion in Fyz­abad for Labour Day cel­e­bra­tions to­mor­row.

Oil­field Work­ers Trade Union (OW­TU) mem­bers were busy yes­ter­day mak­ing prepa­ra­tions at the OW­TU’s San Fer­nan­do head­quar­ters at Para­mount Build­ing, in­clud­ing cre­at­ing plac­ards for the high­ly an­tic­i­pat­ed event.

Due to the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, this is the first time in two years that the cel­e­bra­tions, in­clud­ing a march and ral­ly, are be­ing held. Trade union lead­ers use the plat­form to un­leash their fury against the gov­ern­ment and those who they be­lieve have wronged the work­ing class.

Se­nior Labour Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer Joanne Phillips said yes­ter­day that they had an­oth­er crew build­ing the stage at Fyz­abad and work­ing out the lo­gis­tics for to­mor­row’s event.

She said some of the is­sues that will be high­light­ed on their plac­ards in­clude the one per cent wage of­fer to pub­lic ser­vants, while Gov­ern­ment min­is­ters en­joy big salaries and the cost in­creas­es in food, fu­el and trans­porta­tion.

“Work­ers have been ex­ploit­ed for the last 14 years, no in­creas­es in salaries, but Row­ley and them could eat ham, jam and lamb, run in and run out of the coun­try when they want and you can’t even get a prop­er bus ser­vice to take you from point A to point B,” she charged.

Ten­ta­tive­ly, the Labour Day sched­ule will be­gin with wreath-lay­ing at the La Brea Charles gravesite at the Fyz­abad ceme­tery, a short ad­dress around 9 am by PSA pres­i­dent Leroy Bap­tiste at Av­o­cat Junc­tion, and a march to Char­lie King Junc­tion, fol­lowed by ad­dress­es made by trade union lead­ers. The cel­e­bra­tions will con­clude with a cul­tur­al show at around 4 pm.