Union ready to fight over restructure of port

Annisette spoke at a press conference hosted by the National Trade Union Centre (NATUC) of which he is second vice-president. He was recently sworn in as a member of the new Port Authority Board (PAB).

Annisette said the SWWTU’s attention was drawn to the fact that President George Maxwell Richards had signed the vesting orders for the assets of the Port Authority (PATT) to be vested into a new company called Posinco. This is the acronym for the Port-of-Spain Infrastructure Company.

Two other entities will be involved — the Port of Port-of-Spain, and the Trinidad and Tobago Inter-Island Transport Company which is due to come on stream this month, and the existing Port Authority.

The SWWTU has sought and secured a meeting with the new PAB, headed by Derek Hudson. The meeting is carded for 3 pm tomorrow at the Port Authority’s board room on Dock Road. The union is seeking more information on the terms and conditions under which Port Authority employees would be required to work, once the port restructuring exercise is complete.

At tomorrow’s meeting, SWWTU will also seek the status of the Work Permits Committee.

He said the union had information that the committee had granted work permits to persons from places like the Philippines to Perform duties of able-bodied seamen and stewards.

He said the issue of the restructuring of the port was high on the SWWTU agenda, especially where the continued recognition of SWWTU as the bargaining body for port workers is concerned.

Annisette said, "We in SWWTU have an abundance of seamen who are qualified.

"We are calling on the Minister of National Security to intervene in the matter, and if he doesn’t, the troops of the SWWTU will be on the road demonstrating.

"There cannot be any justification whatsoever for the issuing of work permits to foreign nationals when we have local seafarers in the SWWTU who can do the job," he said.