ECA issuing threats to the working class of T&T

Last week the Employer’s Consultative Association issued a statement saying that any strike action by trade unions in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago could result in workers being laid off from their jobs. What I found curious about such a statement being made by an association that is operating freely in a modern day democratic society is the fact that they did not state why workers would be laid off for exercising their democratic rights.

ECA chairman Keston Nancoo was quoted in the Express as saying "In the present set of circumstances, while we acknowledge the right of trade unions to use their organisation and institutional power to resist attacks on social and labour rights, we do believe that the time has come for us to break with tradition and to introduce greater levels of creativity, innovation and imagination, supported by the will to succeed and the belief in the possibility of change". So again I ask the question, if it is as Mr. Nancoo states that the ECA recognises the right of trade unions to use their institutional power to resist attacks on social and labour rights, why then does his organisation foresee that workers will be laid off for exercising those rights, an act which would no doubt be in contravention of not only our democratic freedoms but a contravention of good industrial relation practice?

Is Mr. Nancoo indicating the ECA’s subtle acceptance that despite the so called advancement of democracy, end of slavery and indenturedship that members of his organisation are still openly victimising workers for exercising their democratic rights? Is Mr. Nancoo now subtly admitting that members of his organisation are employing tactics of our former colonial masters when our forefathers took to the streets and downed tools when they were of the opinion that they were being exploited, treated unfairly and not being given a fair share of the profits which they toiled to generate? I do believe Mr. Nancoo and the ECA owes the citizens of this country an explanation with regards his organisation’s latest statement.

I for one cannot understand why Mr. Nancoo would advocate a break with tradition when it seems members of his association are well prepared to engage in tactics of the past such as victimising workers for engaging in industrial action, and to issue threats such as the above statement. If it is that Mr. Nancoo’s members are not only going to continue their acts of depriving workers of a just wage but also victimise them when they seek to fight for just wages as their democratic rights permits them to, then surely Mr. Nancoo cannot reasonably expect the trade unions to break with tradition. I do believe what Mr. Nancoo and the ECA are engaging in is what is called “double speak”.

While the ECA is pleading with trade unions to “put their country first”, one cannot help but notice that they have issued no such request to their respective members who are making millions in profit. How come the ECA does not see it as a duty to remind it’s members who are raking in millions of dollars in profits despite the global financial crisis, that they need to put country first by ensuring they pay their workers well and give them a just share of profits to ensure that poverty eradication remains a priority in our beloved country and a descent standard of living for the workers who were responsible for them making such millions is secured?

One Caribbean Media Ltd has reported a $44.5 million before tax profit for the half-year ended June 30 2011. Republic Bank Group has recorded a net profit attributable to shareholders of $525.3 million for the financial half year ended March 31 2011 and just posted a 7% increase over their 9month results. Ansa McAL reported a $954m profit for its shareholders. Yet still the ECA is silent with regards to the patriotic responsibilities of these organisations in terms of rewarding employees and ensuring that they have a good standard of living.

I want to let Mr. Nancoo and the members of his organisation know that the workers of this country will not revert to the kind of oppression that was endured by our forefathers. We will not be susceptible to tomfoolery and masked threats. I also want to remind Mr. Nancoo that throughout history the number one crippling factor in economies the world over is the greed of the employer class and their reluctance to fairly distribute the wealth, so he can mamaguy the working class in T&T all he wants it is the employer class that stands to lose the most. I therefore recommend to Mr. Nancoo to advise his members to "put country first" and ensure that the wealth of this nation is fairly distributed to all and not greedily hoarded and controlled by a few.

Labour betrayed by an 'Independent Judas'

As someone who is keenly interested in the labour movement, for the life of me I cannot understand how a man like Michael Annisette could be President of NATUC. Ever his appointment as an ‘Independent Senator’ Mr. Annisette’s credibility has been persistently questioned by various parties as he performs his duties in this country’s senate not as an Independent senator but as a perceived PNM Senator! As someone who is supposed to be the ‘voice of labour’ in the senate Mr. Annisette has done nothing to suggest that he is a representative of the working class, on the contrary he has been pro-government 99% of his sitting time.

How can the President of NATUC openly criticise a member union for legitimately defending the rights of workers? Mr. Annisette was quoted in the Daily Express as saying “nobody can be against the upgrading of a state institution. We need to modernise the system if we are to attain first world status”. Well I’ll be damned if Michael’s words weren’t pulled in verbatim from the PNM’s manifesto of ‘Vision 2020’! Funny how Mr. Annisette didn’t give any evidence of knowing what was wrong with the system to begin with, but I will give him a hint. The problem started and stems from the inefficient, mediocre corrupt managers of the system, i.e. the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

Therefore Mr. Annisette seems to not know what he speaks of because if an organisation is corrupt and inefficient and a management team presides over such organisation for decades then simply changing the workforce is not going to help because you will also need to revamp, modernise and purge the managers of the corrupt system which Mr. Anisette claims needs modernising. And to demonstrate how much I agree with him I suggest we begin revamping this management team by first having President George Maxwell Richards revoke the appointment of Independent ‘PNM’ Senator Mr. Michael Annissette!

If Mr. Annisette is so concerned about the manner in which the Government of Trinidad and Tobago is going about in treating the public servants of this country why doesn’t he as an Independent Senator and Labour Representative go into the Senate and demand that this anti-worker PNM government treat with workers in this country with dignity just as how it is done in the countries with ‘first world status’ such as Canada? When the Canadian government undertook a similar project with its tax bodies not only did it rehire the staff, staff were given a two year employment guarantee, their union was granted automatic successor ship and only two officials of the new body are appointed by the government. The other members are appointed by independent bodies and by independent bodies I mean “independent,” not independent where the Prime Minister has a veto over who is appointed!

Mr. Annisette’s talk about ‘first world status’ and the need for a ‘roundtable approach’ is nothing but hogwash when one compares it to the archaic, dogmatic manner in which this PNM government is treating with the employees of Customs and BIR. Retrenching workers (now euphemistically referred to as VSEP), attempting to derail the PSA by not granting it successor ship and creating a tax collecting special purpose company controlled by the ruling party outside the oversight of Parliament is not ‘first world status’! That is taking us back to the Stone Age! Just look at what is happening with special purpose companies like UDECOTT using state funds to sabotage a Commission of Enquiry and big honchos in UDECOTT awarding contracts to their families in Malaysia. Not surprisingly this same ‘Independent PNM Senator’ is also a director of UDECOTT. Well as the saying goes if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then guess what, it’s a duck! At least this sort of financial espionage and nepotism was contained to a much greater extent under the watchful eyes of the now maligned service commissions!

It is no wonder then why the labour movement in this country is not only perceived as weak, politically tainted and manipulated by politics when you have the President of the National Trade Union Centre treating lightly with a politically violent and blatant attack on workers’ rights and in the same vein heaping scorn upon the leader of the PSA who is going all out to preserve the dignity of his union’s members. If the labour movement in this country does not soon wake up and remove forthwith the obvious Judas who is also working part time as the anti-Christ in our senate and strip him from the Presidency of NATUC, an organisation whose interests he clearly isn’t serving then there is no point saying we have a labour movement in this country. Labour in Trinidad and Tobago is dead! ©

A Shame Upon Our Nation

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has dealt a severe blow to the human rights image of this country by presiding over blatant modern day slavery. I say hats off to the Chinese labourers who had the courage to say enough is enough and take a stand against the grotesque treatment being meted out to them by the Chinese company which brought them here to replace national workers. Imagine the Chinese project manager had the audacity to say that they are Chinese, in attempt to justify the horrendous living conditions of these workers. Ancil Rogette had an apt response, “We are Trinidadians and what you are doing here is against the laws of Trinidad and Tobago and not in sync with the ‘standards’ that we have set!”

I also say hats off to the OWTU for throwing their support behind these Chinese workers despite the local Trade Union Movement’s initial and continued objection to foreign labour replacing our own local labour in this current global financial stagnation. The rights of workers and more importantly the fundamental human rights of individuals must always take precedence at all times.

This Government has brought a humongous shame and disgrace upon the human rights image of this country by presiding over this modern day enslavement of Chinese workers despite us being a member of the Human Rights Charter. The deplorable conditions in which these Chinese workers are asked to live are also in breach of our own OSHA and other labour and social laws. Imagine a hundred plus people living in these 4x4 compartments with small wooden windows as ventilation, no air condition units to deal with this humidity, no washing area and one kitchen. Come on Trinidadians we should be ashamed to have foreigners living in such squalid conditions in our twin island under sun. When the foreign media gets a hold of this story, which foreigner is going to believe the paradisiacal pictures on our tourism brochures on display in our Foreign Missions and Embassies?

Not only has Patrick Manning sacrificed our treasury on an alter the way Abraham slaughtered a lamb to appease Yahweh, Patrick is now seeking to sacrifice the image and reputation of our country’s flaying human rights record (the crime rate is doing its own damage) to achieve his deluded dreams of a herculean legacy, demonstrating that he is willing to go any lengths including turning a blind eye to clear breaches of human rights. Not a week goes by in this country without shame falling before the feet of our citizens. Our corruption index is at an all time low because of the revalations coming out of the UFF Commission and now our human rights record is due to be raped. Is there anything that Patrick Manning intends on leaving in tack after he demits the lofty office of ‘God Prime Minister’? ©

Attack On Trade Unions A Further Erosion Of Our Rights And Freedoms

It is quite clear that the current PNM administration through two state entities namely TSTT and PTSC is hell bent on sending a message of intimidation to the working class of this nation in addition to unleashing the conditions for a cruel indefinite wage freeze upon the labour force of this nation despite the continuous rise in the cost of living and government taxes. This current government has done everything in its power, from raising taxes, to raising utilities to squeeze the blood out of the working class of this nation to satisfy its insatiable reckless spending.

The solution to TSTT’s and PTSC’s request to decertify two of this country’s largest unions is quite simple. Every single member of the unions representing workers of these two entities should stop work ‘indefinitely’ until a message is sent to the bourgeoisie management and their bourgeoisie bosses in the respective Government Ministries that the workers are the life and blood of those companies. Every other single union in this country along with all political opposition forces and NGO’s should take this attack on the working class of this country extremely serious and give their all out support to the respective unions until government desists from oppressing the working class of this country. Massive rallies should be organised to picket TSTT, PTSC and the Parliament. Now is not the time for 'clan protectionism' or the 'it doesn't affect me attitude'. What the working class in this country need to understand is once Government (the largest employer in this country) begins to attack the working class and stifle justified wage demands it ultimately sends a message to the private sector who will follow suit.

The rights of the citizens of this country are being eroded every single day by this run away government, either through limiting of funds to the judiciary, the non-appointment of key public officials such as DPP, Solicitor General and COP, the proposal of a rogue ‘Draft Constitution’, the inexcusable reluctance to hold Local Elections and now the decertification of unions. Now is the time for citizens to open their eyes and see the storm approaching on the horizon, this storm is no longer ‘creeping’ it is now a full blown category five hurricane bearing down on our rights and freedoms! ©