Time to come clean Roget

In 2015, after seven years as president general, Roget, in dramatic style, publicly tore up a Petrotrin letter that sought to end his secondment to the OWTU. Requested by the OWTU of Petrotrin, Roget’s secondment, allows for leaves of absence with pay to perform full-time work for OWTU for a period of up to two years, which can be extended for an additional two years. According to reports, normally no more than four years are granted.

In 2015, it was also reported that Roget was in the middle of his second four-year term. My guess is that the second fouryear term is about to end, and a fourth request for a problematic extension of secondment is in the works. It was reported that the oil company complied with three OWTU requests for secondment extensions for Roget. In addition, since 2008, while Petrotrin has been paying Roget’s substantial salary and employer’s pension, the OWTU has been making their own contributions to the president general’s pension, in addition to other substantial emoluments.

If Roget is to be believed, settling outstanding negotiations, honouring collective agreements (however opportunistic and serving a common interest), is not mainly about money, as he said in 2013. Horrifically, neither does it appear in 2016 the OWTU looming strike action, intending to bring a country to its knees, has any ideological purpose. Roget’s attempt to shut down a besieged country, in his words - as long as three months, even if the country suffers - is downright treasonable.

Yes, there’s a method to the mayhem madness. Clearly, timing is key. Roget has no plans to give up his OWTU presidency, or to retire from Petrotrin, until his due date in 2025. His posturing, featuring identifiable time frames and strategy, magnifies and explains a deeply personal and private agenda, like the maintenance and or accumulation of benefits, intricately interwoven with long term power and control goals.

It’s a classic case of having one’s cake and eating it. Sadly, Roget’s conflict of interest conduct as employee and citizen, and Petrotrin’s inability to act in its own best interest are being overshadowed and ridden over by threats and theatrics, supported by some immoral workers who putting themselves before country and their jobs at risk. Isn’t about time Roget comes clean with oil workers?

Kathleen Pinder Via email