Govt out to crush trade unions

OPPOSITION Senator Wade Mark says the establishment of Petrotrin holding companies with four subsidiaries was part of Government’s strategy to crush and destroy the modern trade union movement.

He was speaking yesterday during the Senate debate on the budget.

“The PNM Government has chosen to go for the jugular. They have calculated that once the OWTU is dismembered, the rest of the trade unions would fall.”

He added: “The PNM has always been bitterly anti-worker, anti-trade union and anti-people. Since the arrival of Eric Williams in TT in the 50s the trade unions have come under relentless assault.”

Mark said the Patrick Manning administration closed down BWIA, TTT and Caroni (1975) Ltd leaving thousands of workers on the breadline, but the PNM was now threatening to go after the Communication Workers Union, Public Services Association and the National Union of Government and Federated Workers under the guise of restructuring TSTT, WASA, BIR, Customs and Excise and TTEC.

Mark said when a chairman of a state board referred to workers as “baggage” which must be cleaned up, “then we all know that the Government has declared war on the working class of our country.” He said restructuring was being used a cover to subvert the trade union movement and to lay off thousands and thousands of their members.

“It is clear that the working class needs to be alert, united, militant and firm in their opposition to this anti-PNM, anti-trade union government.”

Mark said after the Petrotrin board signed a memorandum of understanding, it went ahead and breached the agreement.

“A leopard never changes its spots and the trade unions should have learned lessons from past PNM governments.”

He said while Government has estimated 5,500 workers would be affected by the Petrotrin refinery closure, it was actually 50,000 people whose sources of income were at risk, including service providers and people who run groceries and parlours.

According to a report from the TT Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, he said, Petrotrin paid an estimated $21 billion from 2011 to 2018, and he questioned why Government wanted to close down such a healthy company. He said it was to sanitise the (late former Petrotrin chairman) Malcolm Jones era, ensure there were no witnesses in the A&V Drilling fake oil scandal and hide a number of crooked deals involving top government officials.

He said in 1,120 days in office Government has not fully proclaimed and put in place public procurement legislation, which has led to a lot of mishandling of public funds. He said Cabinet was operating like medieval times where the king would purchase things as he pleases.

“Whether it is the Galleons Passage, the two recently announced boats they want to purchase from Australia or the two Cape-class military vessels, it is all the same.”

He said while Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Minister in the Finance Minister Allyson West had spoken about turnaround, this was not seen in businesses hiring more workers, government hiring more workers, and more businesses opening rather than closing.

“Time for the people to expose the bogus turnaround and run the PNM out of town.”

He urged people to “chase them crazy baldheads out of town” and called on the Prime Minister to resign and call elections now.