Warwick: Government is attacking democracy

OWTU’s Ozzie Warwick, at left ,chats with president general Ancil Roget as they and other members enter the Industrial court Port of Spain on November 7.
OWTU’s Ozzie Warwick, at left ,chats with president general Ancil Roget as they and other members enter the Industrial court Port of Spain on November 7.

MASS retrenchment harms not only workers but also hurts democracy by undermining the voice of trade unions, said Ozzie Warwick, education officer of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union.

He spoke to Newsday at a lunchtime protest on Friday by the Communication Workers Union, outside the TSTT office at Independence Square, against the recent retrenching of 500 TSTT workers.

Warwick said, “As the Government continues to pursue an anti-union, anti-worker agenda, imposing austerity on the people of TT, it is having workers bear the full burden of adjustment.” He lamented the workers were “the sacrificial lambs of the Government’s failed economic policy.” Warwick said the Government had failed the country.

“What is worst about this nightmare of the PNM Government is that it will continue. It is Petrotrin and TSTT, and they plan to target WASA, BIR (Board of Inland Revenue), T&TEC, and all so as to really obliterate the State sector.” Warwick said such a policy will fail and will exacerbate inequality in TT.

“Their policy will further impoverish people and create greater suffering and strife for working people. They are destroying TT.”

Warwick said retrenchment harms democracy by hurting unions.

“Part of their policy is a fascist tendency, to destroy the countervailing force and voice in this country. The trade union movement is a voice against bad governance and against abuse of power, but they are attacking us.

“So, not only have they failed economically, but in order to withstand the repercussions of their failure they are also dismantling the democracy of the country. That’s how serious it is. By destroying the countervailing forces that speak out against abuse of authority, you are in fact destroying the democracy of TT.”

David Abdulah, Movement for Social Justice head, in a statement on Friday echoed these views.

"The MSJ is absolutely convinced that the Rowley PNM Government is pursuing a most insidious agenda of restructuring – not just of state-owned companies like Petrotrin and TSTT, but the entire society of TT. This restructuring is the total repudiation of the society that the PNM of Dr Eric Williams sought to create." While holding no brief for Williams, Abdulah said TT's first prime minister had recognised that enduring social development needed the input of a strong and active labour movement. More so, Williams understood that foreign investment is needed but must be kept within the context of our national goals and objectives.

"Dr Rowley and his PNM are hell-bent on destroying the foundations that Eric Williams established. The end result will be an ever widening gap between rich and poor, with the majority of workers barely able to survive from pay day to pay day." Abdulah predicted that businesses will be owned either by large local capital or foreign capital, land controlled and owned by a few, and a society that continues to degenerate into social barbarism.

"The closure of the Petrotrin refinery and the retrenchment of all Petrotrin workers was the first major salvo by the Rowley PNM to restructure the society. The second salvo is the decision to retrench more than 500 workers at TSTT."

Abdulah said retrenchment is not done to make companies like Petrotrin and TSTT viable, which he said was a false narrative.

"It is not about finance or the state of the country’s economy. The nature and manner of these actions have as their objective the political and social restructuring of TT." It is a classic case of a neo-liberal policy agenda, as pursued by right wing governments from Donald Trump in the US to Michel Temer and Jair Bolsanaro in Brazil.

Abdulah sympathised with retrenched workers and urged citizens to recognise the danger the Government is putting TT in.

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance but as we have not been vigilant the Rowley Government is trying to destroy the labour movement, in particular, the progressive labour movement in the form of the OWTU and the CWU."

If this happens, all working people and the society will suffer badly as the progressive labour movement has best stood as the people’s gatekeepers against the abuse of State power, Abdulah said.

"The MSJ calls on the Rowley PNM to think again. You are destroying the foundations of the society laid down by Dr Eric Williams. It is not too late to pull back from this course of action."

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"Warwick: Government is attacking democracy"

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