Roget: JTUM, OWTU not supporting UNC

THE Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) and the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU), one of the 17 unions that comprise JTUM, are not supporting the Opposition UNC in the August 14 local government elections.

JTUM president Ancel Roget, who is also OWTU president-general, made this point clear before the start of a walkabout with Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) political leade David Abdulah and that party's three candidates in Point Fortin on Friday.

The MSJ is only contesting three districts in the Point Fortin Borough Corporation in the elections.

Speaking with the media at the Gonzales Community Centre in Point Fortin, Roget said, "The JTUM, which represents a significant body of trade unions in this country, have taken the position to support the MSJ in these local government elections."

He added this decision was taken because "it is absolutely necessary that we do something different to get a different type of result here in this country."

Roget said it was only around election time that political parties in authority associate with people on the ground, in order to get their votes.

"Representation is about the development of a people and they have sought to under-develop you here in Point Fortin and entirely throughout Trinidad and Tobago."

JTUM, Roget continued, is calling for a different representation for the people.

He claimed all of the PNM's policies "are geared to suit one per cent of all the people in this country."

Roget said, "It is time that the (other) 99 per cent of the people, stand up in their own defence."

He declared that the MSJ "is the only party that has identified with the people on the ground."

Roget claimed that the Prime Minister and the PNM are disconnected from these people.

He said, "We are not going to stop until the people get justice in TT."

Roget added, "For TT to live, the PNM must die (politically)."

In the same breath, Roget said JTUM and the OWTU are "not supporting the UNC."

He did not see support from members of the OWTU's Pointe-a-Pierre branch for UNC candidates contesting districts in the San Fernando City Corporation as a betrayal of the union's commitment to the MSJ.

"We have no MSJ candidates in Pointe-a-Pierre. If we had, it would have been different."

Against this background, Roget said, "We cannot stand aside and allow the PNM to gain even more traction in any part of this country, when we can express our feelings whichever way we can."

He reiterated that the PNM took away the jobs of OWTU Pointe-a-Pierre branch members, when they closed Petrotrin in November 2018.

At a UNC cottage meeting in San Fernando on Thursday, OWTU Pointe-a-Pierre branch president Christopher Jackman confirmed that the union as a body is supporting the MSJ in the elections.

But he said, "It is very important to us that the Pointe-a-Pierre/San Fernando seat turns to yellow."

At a news conference at the MSJ's headquarters in Marabella on Thursday, Abdulah said, "Ultimately, workers have to understand where their true interests lie."

He added workers must also recognise who has truly defended their interests in the past and will do so again in the future. Abdulah said no other political party has a proven track record on this matter than the MSJ.