Ramnath vows to take fight to streets

Kelvin Ramnath, Member of Parliament for Couva South, yesterday vowed to take the struggle against the restructuring of Caroni to the streets.

He was speaking at a rally organised by the joint trade union movement held at Rienzi Complex which saw hundreds of sugar workers attending. Ramnath said the issue would never be settled in Parliament but having regard to the manner the PNM administration was handling the issue of non consultation with sugar unions the time had come to settle the matter on the streets of Trinidad and Tobago.

Ramnath said the attempt to restructure and fire 9,000 workers could be characterised as destroying a whole civilisation. He called on those that already signed the VSEP to return it on Monday and give full support to the sugar union in their struggle. Referring to remarks he made in Parliament in which he told Agriculture Minister John Rahael that he could not guarantee his safety in South and Central Trinidad, he repeated the warning. Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday said he was not advocating violence as a means of continuing the strugggle but called for a boycott of businesses which supported the VSEP plan. Violent protest, he said, would lead to civil war.