STOP THE SABOTAGE

The continuing mindless sabotage of Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) operations at a time when the company is locked in wage negotiations with the Communications Workers Union may or may not be coincidental. It is the second consecutive occasion however, during a period of deadlock between both parties that clearly deliberate interruptions of TSTT services have taken place. Telephone services have been disrupted and several scares have been provoked, resulting in evacuations of TSTT offices, customer service centres and the like. And, particularly, in the climate of stress in the country today, these unthinkingly crafted events add to the problems of concern.

While we do not point accusing fingers at any party or parties, nonetheless it is a frightening throw back, albeit not without irony, to the industrial violence of 1960, when a predecessor company, the Telephone Company, had been placed under siege. In addition, it is reminiscent of the 1930s and the policy of “we” (meaning workers) against “them” (the employers.) But the situation is entirely different today, decades later. Telecommunications Services workers are not merely among the better paid in the country today, but their working conditions are comparable. Meanwhile, although the difference between the percentage increase offered by TSTT and that demanded by the Communications Workers’ Union may not be as great as say last month, the Union’s earlier insistence on profit sharing had created a clear stumbling block. Its recently adjusted position, however, that of a request that some of the company’s shareholding whenever this is on offer in the market place, be made available for purchase by workers, is a sensible tactic.

It is in the trend of Employee Stock Ownership Plans, long a feature of many developed countries, for example, the United States. In turn it has long been introduced to Trinidad and Tobago, and whether here or overseas is regarded as an incentive to increased productivity. The Union, rather than adopt a non mea culpa position, should instead caution its members and/or misguided sympathisers against being involved in or even tacitly supporting acts aimed at destabilising TSTT. For it is in the continued growth of TSTT that their immediate economic future lies. Increasingly, operations of many businesses, including speeded up determining of the latest and most economical offerings in the market place have been facilitated by inquiries made on the internet, a facility made available by TSTT. This, as communicating through the computer is dependent on TSTT. Sabotage of TSTT’s services, indeed of any company’s production efforts, is unacceptable. We hope that the disruptive strategies, adversely affecting TSTT, by whichever individual or group responsible, are abandoned, and for good.