3 trade unions ready for Labour Day

Unions under the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Governmental Organisations (FITUN), The National Trade Union Centre (NATUC) and the Joint Trade Union Movement gathered yesterday at Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union headquarters in Barataria to announce their plans.

Speaking to reporters, JTUM President Ancel Roget said workers were under “serious attack” brought on by retrenchment, privatisation and other factors.

“We are ever mindful that all the employers from inception to now and especially now are uniting in one common strength and force against all of the workers, against all the labour movement.

By absolute necessary and wisdom we found it necessary to unite to fight this common battle,” he said.

He said on Labour Day, they will be dealing with several issues including issues of governance, food security and sovereignty and the attempt to impose on the country, a wage freeze.

“We will be demanding fair and just labour legislation to be implemented now. We are demanding proper and safe working conditions for all of the workers throughout TT. We will be saying a bold no to any attempt to implement any IMF or World Bank policies.

We are saying that workers must not pay for the crisis. We are also saying that the issue of governance continues to attract our attention.

We demand proper and good governance for all of the people of TT,” he said.

Roget said this year the trade union movement will celebrate 80 years and this year’s theme for Labour Day will be ‘80 years of struggle and sacrifices of the labour movement in service of Trinidad and Tobago’.

“All of the development that this country has gained for the last 80 years it could have been only been developed on the basis of the struggle and sacrifices of the labour movement,” he said.

NATUC General Secretary Michael Annisette said the decision by the trade union federations to come together demonstrated a level of maturity and responsibility.

“In respect of understanding that the battle for the working class and the labour movement can only be fought successfully when all the trade union leaders put their collective wisdom.

Fyzabad 2017 is going to be totally different and this struggle will not end in Fyzabad, this struggle will continue,” he said.