Why you meeting she?

“I was appalled to see that instead of talking with us (the trade unions) he wants to talk to those who he said previously could not do the job... but he wants to have talk sessions with them,” an angry Roget said, adding, “you condemn them for not being able to do the job (yet when) you run out of ideas you want to talk with them. We are at our wits end and must take action.” He raised the issue of Rowley’s invitation to Persad-Bissessar at JTUM’s second mobilisation exercise at Busy Corner in Chaguanas.

What is particularly galling for Roget and the trade union movement is the fact that it was the very same Rowley and the People’s National Movement (PNM) that signed a memorandum of understanding on August 27, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain, in which there was an agreement for consultations.

Turning his attention on possible job cuts in the private sector as alluded to by Rowley during the latter’s conversations forum on Tuesday at the Point Fortin East Secondary School, Roget declared he would have none of this and neither will the labour movement allow itself to be fooled by pronouncements made on political platforms.

“I want to say to this government and those in charge of governance in this country, people are suffering and no amount of talk, no amount of trying to convince me that I have to suffer more for you to balance your books, will suffice,” Roget said.

“And so we are only hearing about announcements on political platforms about public sector cuts…we will not accept that!” “It is our right to do what we think necessary in defence of our members, from daily paid workers to to public sector workers.

We will not accept that workers must bear the brunt and that the full yoke of adjustment must rest squarely on the shoulders of workers,” he said.

“That is not what we sat and drafted out and agreed to (when the MoU was signed). Indeed, we were aware back then of the challenges we would face and as a result of that we drafted a proper way forward, a blueprint to surmount and overcome all challenges.” Roget said he was appalled that Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, a former leader of the Public Services Association (PSA) is unaware of how many persons have been retrenched since her government took office in September 2015 or that retrenchment is being considered in the public service.