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9 April, 2007
Labour relations in Trinidad and Tobago tilt pointedly toward turbulent unrest, as witnessed by mounted riot police and barricades that met 200 labour protestors on 29 March at Whitehall, the prime minister’s offices in Port-of-Spain. The 200 peaceful marchers were forced by the barricades and mounted patrols away from the site of their strategic protest, and into an adjacent park.
Workers employed at national and global companies – firms that have either stalled collective negotiations, or refused to engage in them – marched on Whitehall during a cabinet meeting with PM Patrick Manning in protest of high food prices and nagging inflation. This economic hit on workers comes at a time when bosses are delaying salary increases.
ICEM affiliate Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) organised the demonstration, together with its national ally, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Government Organisations (FITUN).
The 29 March demonstration comes amidst a wave of job actions on the Caribbean island nation, including a strike two weeks ago by OWTU members at state-owned oil company Petrotrin. Job actions also included a dockworkers’ strike last week.
At the Whitehall standoff, workers from Petrotrin, Trinmar, PowerGen, Hilton Hotels, Telecommunications Service (TSTT), and University of West Indies (UWI) marched to the beat of a rhythm section right up to the barricades. TSTT and UWI workers demand that their employers negotiate with their chosen trade unions, while Hilton protested their management’s refusal to negotiate a pension plan.
Errol McLeod, OWTU President
Errol McLeod of OWTU said workers’ patience is grows thin due to the slow pace of wage negotiations at several private and public companies. Dockworkers, in fact, represented by Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Trade Union (SWWTU), struck port facilities in Port-of-Spain because wage talks continue now for two years.
McLeod said government officials and companies must realize that by settling wage demands will result in the desired effect of economic growth. The absence of that, he added, either by government, or on the part of management in the public or private sector, will bring only further unrest.
“If employers were to meet the just demands of unions, then there would be no need to protest,” FITUN President David Abdullah said in a news report. FITUN has been heavily engaged with the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) is its fight to get TSTT managers into meaningful collective bargaining.
From 26-30 March, some 400 OWTU took job actions at oil-well facilities of Petrotrin, and protested in front of the company’s Santa Flora production headquarters. The OWTU is protesting improper safety practices, brought on mainly through under-staffing. OWTU members also protested Petrotrin’s failure to upgrade temporary workers – some who have worked for as long as 25 years – to permanent and full-time jobs.