JTUM: Prepare for shutdown

The Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) is warning that the unions will boycott companies and mobilise to shut down the country if Government does not heed their call to rehire workers who were recently let go.

These included workers at the San Fernando City Corporation and Petrotrin who were let go as part as “restructuring.” OWTU president Ancel Roget said steps would be taken if any worker at the University of TT were retrenched.

The Amalgamated Workers Union, Postal workers Union, Industrial General and Sanitation Workers, TT Farmers Union, Communication Workers Union, Banking Insurance General Workers Union, Maxi Taxi Association, TT Registered Nurses Association and Oilfields’ Workers Trade Union held a media conference at the CWU Hall, Henry Street, Port of Spain, where Roget said the increase in the price of diesel would have a serious impact on all members of society, especially those who could least afford the rise in prices.

Roget said the union hand-delivered a letter to the Office of the Prime Minister on October 11 about the increased fuel price.

“We are deeply concerned about the pensioners, the retirees, people on fixed income, minimum-wage earners, low-income families especially single parents, the unemployed, the farmers and the people at the lowest end of the economic ladder. We call for the reversal of this measure.

“We have not received a response from the Office of the PM. We consider that to be the highest form of disrespect, not just for the labour movement, but to the people.”

Roget said some companies were announcing huge profits while thousands of workers were on the breadline.

He said the National Conference of All Shop Stewards and Branch Officers and Activists (COSSABO) was not only looking at crime and violence, but also the unprecedented rate of murder.

“When one worker goes home, an entire family is impacted and it ripples throughout the very society,” he said. Roget said, while Government was saying it was not going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), IMF measures were being unleashed on the population – downsizing of the workforce and removal of subsidies. He said all these were IMF prescriptions.

He said COSSSABO would hold community meetings to help provide support to small businessmen because the people were hurting.

“They are suffering, crying out for help, but government offices are perched too high in high-rise buildings for them to notice. People are suffering in TT and the only people who do not realise that are those in Government,” he said. Roget said agricultural land must not be used for housing or commercial use.