KEVON FELMINE
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
September 1 is Freedom Day.
With the government's three-month State of Emergency (SoE) nearing its end, the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM), the Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FITUN) and the National Trade Union Centre (NATUC) is gearing up to hit the streets of Port-of-Spain.
At a joint media conference today, JTUM leader Ancel Roget announced the date when unionists and others would demonstrate their dissatisfaction with governance under the People's National Movement (PNM).
Roget said the trade union movement identified that long before COVID-19 arrived in T&T, the economy was in deep crisis, and the government adopted an anti-worker approach. He said the government also launched a vicious attack to decimate the trade union movement so it could implement austerity measures and privatise State entities.
Now with COVID-19 here, Roget said the government is using the SoE and public health restrictions “to carry out its nefarious plans as people cannot react effectively by hitting the streets”.
However, he said the SoE must end, and like citizens and workers in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, the trade union movement will return to the streets to demonstrate their will to ensure better for this country.
Roget said they would abide by all the public health protocols in carrying out their demonstration.
