ALNG strike could end by Monday

THE six-week-long strike at the Atlantic LNG (ALNG) Train Four construction site could be resolved by Monday, following talks at Whitehall between Prime Minister Patrick Manning and a delegation of the ALNG workers. Together with NATUC president Robert Giuseppi and SWWTU president, Michael Annisette, ALNG workers’ representative Ernest Thompson met behind closed doors with the Prime Minister for nearly 30 minutes.  While they met several hundred workers gathered outside Whitehall to protest the current state of industrial affairs in Trinidad and Tobago.When he emerged from the discussions, Thompson told Newsday that the talks with Manning were “meaningful” and the workers were committed to negotiating over the weekend with the objective of resuming work at Train Four on Monday. The Prime Minister shared Thompson’s views at the subsequent post-Cabinet news conference, with the added disclosure that Achong remains the Labour Minister because his resignation has not been accepted.

Speaking with reporters prior to his meeting with Manning, Thompson said Government should apologise to former Labour Minister Larry Achong and Achong must be included in efforts to resolve the strike. “There is no other labour minister like Larry Achong. Right now the nation needs Larry Achong. I consider him the boss when it comes to labour, ‘The wildcat’ in town,” he declared. While hinting that Laventille East/Morvant MP Fitzgerald Hinds could be a suitable successor to Achong, Thompson said Hinds must be ready to handle the portfolio (if chosen) and “has to start talking to the expert, Larry Achong.” Several other labour leaders also took pot shots at the Government for their handling of several labour issues in TT today. NUGFW vice-president Clyde Lambert rejected charges by Public Services Association (PSA) president Jennifer Baptiste-Primus that the union got “a sweetheart deal” under the former UNC government where daily-rated workers in the Regional Health Authorities (RHA) were concerned. Lambert claimed the workers’ protests were not politically motivated and “we are not here to break down any government.” Lambert charged that legislation like the RHA Amendment Act 2004 could only be passed in Communist countries. Several other labour representatives claimed that the same parasitic oligarchy which brought down the UNC was now sinking its claws into its PNM successor.