POOR GETTING POORER

IN A MASSIVE show of strength and solidarity, the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) took to the streets of Port-of-Spain  yesterday to highlight the plight of government daily-paid workers.

Thousands of NUGFW members drawn from all government departments, accompanied  by their counterparts of other unions, started their march from Memorial Park and ended at Woodford Square. The placard-bearing protesters marched to music provided by improvised musical instruments.  At Woodford Square, they were addressed by a battery of speakers, headed by NUGFW’s President-General, Robert Guiseppi and his second in command, James Lambert. Lambert highlighted three main areas of concern - the classification of workers, pension plan and negotiations for a 2002-2004 Collective Agreement. He made it clear that NUGFW was neither against the duly-elected government, CEPEP nor the URP and were not protesting because of the upcoming Local Government elections.

“What we want are better wages as a working class people, amendments to both the Industrial Relations Act and the Recognition, Registration and Certification Board and better wages for CEPEP workers. “Government is paying wages like in the colonial days. We want better pay packets for URP and CEPEP workers, and we want sustainable jobs for the people of Trinidad and Tobago,” said Lambert. He noted that in Trinidad and Tobago, the rich was getting richer and the poor poorer. Promising that the workers would not give up, Lambert  said: “We will march until our demands are met and are able to enjoy the wealth of the country the way others do.” The heads of all sections of NUGFW, representing government daily-paid workers and state enterprises, also addressed the mass of people.