JTUM criticises TSTT 'restructuring' plans

The Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) has accused the Government of engaging in an aggressive campaign of retrenchment under the guise of restructuring Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT).

The trade union federation condemned the move saying such restructuring, in the past, has placed thousands of workers on the breadline and drove thousands of families into poverty.

On Sunday, a statement from JTUM said it stands in solidarity with TSTT workers and their union, Communication Workers' Union (CWU), in their struggle against mass retrenchment.

JTUM recalled the Government's "restructuring" of Tourism Development Corporation (TDC) in which all the workers were retrenched. The statement said the restructuring of Petrotrin ended in all workers being sent home, accusing the Government of standing idly by when the Arcellor Mittal plant was closed.

The statement considered these patterns as "Government's backward neo-liberal policies which are creating greater hardship for citizens."

It said the Government has plans to privatise the Port of Port of Spain, retrenchment plans for Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), TT Electricity Commission, Lake Asphalt, Solid Waste Management Company Ltd, National Petroleum Marketing Company Ltd, and others.

JTUM charged that Government's "real plans" are to transform the republic and democratic state with social justice as its cornerstone into a privatised neo-liberal un-democratic state.

This hypothetical state has no trade unions, rights, freedoms, and life support infrastructure for citizens.

"The Government's approach to restructuring is simply retrenchment which is an outdated, archaic, and backward approach that the international community has rejected," the statement said.

JTUM also joined CWU and called for the Government to set up a committee to examine the "mismanagement in TSTT."

The statement said the federation supports several other calls that CWU made, like for investigations into the "prop up of AMPLIA" by TSTT and TSTT's fixed and floating assets.

The federation said it noted "with concern" that CWU submitted a proposal to the Public Utilities minister on December 6. But to date, the union had not received an acknowledgement.

JTUM believes that instead of mass retrenching workers, senior managers should instead be held accountable for poor decisions.