Unions readying for May Day

Roget’s infamous statement to the energy giant to, “take your rig and go”, has been the subject of much discussion for and against the statement. In an interview yesterday, OWTU chief education and research officer Ozzi Warwick said the reaction by the business sector was representative of a “post-colonial mentality withdrawal syndrome” which is evident in society.

“The fundamental issue here has to do with Trinidad and Tobago’s relationship with multi-nationals, and importantly, their role in post-colonial economies,” Warwick said, adding that no one paid attention to the context of Roget’s statement regarding workers’ health in the production of oil and gas.

“It is as if workers’ lives did not matter,” he said. “Despite this, the Energy Chamber put forward a very disturbing response, which argued that workers are abusing the Occupational Safety and Health Act to engage in work stoppage,” he added, noting that the Chamber’s argument is, “devoid” of any facts.

“The Chamber ignored the fact that legislation includes provisions for a process regarding the way in which workers can exercise their right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations.

A key example is the establishment of Health and Safety Committees, to ensure specific provisions are only used for the purposes for which they were actually intended,” he said.

Warwick said companies in the oil and gas industry have refused to establish Health and Safety Committees and this is a major complaint by workers throughout the energy sector. “Therefore, it cannot be acceptable that companies are allowed to violate the OSH Act, and when workers take action to save their life and limb, they are the ones who are punished,” he insisted.

He said none of the business chambers or organizations seem to realize that the company (BP) is “leveraging for greater concessions” from Trinidad and Tobago, for continued investment and cited a statement by the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) which, “literally begs BP to return, thereby giving that entity even more leveraging power.”