Protest greets President at UWI

PRESIDENT George Maxwell Richards yesterday encounted an unexpected labour protest after he delivered the opening address at a conference at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine. Richards had just left the conference on “Asset Management and Maintenance Engineering” hosted by the Association of Professional Engineers (APETT) at Room 101 in the Faculty of Engineering. About 100 UWI employees, many dressed in red jerseys and led by officials of the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), stood between the faculty building and the President’s car.

The workers chanted their demands. The President kept his cool. He made his way through the line of protestors. There were signs of discomfort among security personnel, and university officials seemed embarrassed. But the President and his entourage made an uneventful getaway. One university official said the protest near the President was obviously planned. “But it’s a free country and people have the right to protest,” he conceded. OWTU executive vice-president, Teddy Stapleton, denied the protestors had deliberately targeted the President. Stapleton said the workers had been circling the campus and just by chance they arrived at Room 101 just as the President was exiting.

He assured that they had meant no disrespect to the head of State by their actions. “As an ex-employee of the university, the President should understand the workers’ plight,” he added. Stapleton said the union was seeking a 15 percent wage increase over the period of 2002 to 2004, but UWI was offering ten percent. The workers were particularly aggrieved that morning, he added, because on Wednesday night they had been told a scheduled meeting with UWI officials had been postponed.