The Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) says the re­peal of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Rev­enue Au­thor­i­ty (TTRA) leg­is­la­tion proves that work­er sol­i­dar­i­ty can de­feat po­lit­i­cal in­ter­fer­ence and in­jus­tice.

In a state­ment fol­low­ing the Sen­ate’s ap­proval of the TTRA Re­peal Bill last night, PSA Pres­i­dent Fe­li­cia Thomas said the out­come was the re­sult of years of firm re­sis­tance by pub­lic of­fi­cers.

“His­to­ry has once again proven that when work­ers stand to­geth­er and speak with one voice, no gov­ern­ment, no agen­da, no in­jus­tice can si­lence us,” she said.

The PSA has op­posed the TTRA since 2010, ar­gu­ing it threat­ened con­sti­tu­tion­al rights, job se­cu­ri­ty, and the in­de­pen­dence of the Board of In­land Rev­enue (BIR) and the Cus­toms and Ex­cise Di­vi­sion (CED). Thomas said the law was a tool for “con­trol and po­lit­i­cal in­tru­sion” in­to the pub­lic ser­vice.

She praised First Vice Pres­i­dent Ter­risa Dho­ray and oth­ers who took the fight to the Privy Coun­cil. While the Coun­cil did not strike down the law, it flagged leg­isla­tive flaws that Thomas said af­firmed the PSA’s po­si­tion.

“This is not just a leg­isla­tive vic­to­ry,” she said. “It is a tes­ta­ment to the un­break­able will of or­gan­ised work­ers.”

Thomas thanked Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and the new­ly elect­ed UNC Gov­ern­ment for mov­ing quick­ly to re­peal the law and re­store the voice of pub­lic of­fi­cers.

She end­ed with a mes­sage to work­ers across the coun­try: “Let this be a mes­sage to every work­er across Trinidad and To­ba­go.”