TT Chamber condemns OWTU’s Petrotrin strike

“Considering the company’s financial difficulties,” the Chamber said it is of the view that “the key bargaining stakeholders ought to have centred their dialogue on the survival of (Petrotrin), as opposed to one side making untenable demands for wage increases.” Noting that at the end of the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2016; October to December, Petrotrin’s closing figures registered a staggering drop in revenue of TT $3.2 billion - part of a more than 50 percent decline over a four-year period, the Chamber said it “deems it wholly irresponsible of the OWTU to take action designed to hold the country to ransom based on their trade union-led agitation for salary increases.” “In Petrotrin’s current financial state, this action is nothing short of unconscionable,” the Chamber declared.

“At the end of the day, it is the more vulnerable who most stand to lose, should Petrotrin be forced into a position of capitulating to the OWTU demands.

The implications of this to our people and to our local economy in an already volatile climate, cannot be underestimated.” The Chamber also categorically denounced the strike action, challenging the OWTU to reconsider its position and renew its tripartite pledge to dialogue “in a manner that will facilitate a fair and non-disruptive settlement for all common interests.” “Anything less, is unworthy of the true spirit of the collective bargaining process,” the Chamber stated.