Public Utilities Minister reports OWTU to police over protest at his home

PUBLIC Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales said his family is still traumatised by a protest the Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) led outside his home in November 2024, and that he has reported the matter to the police.

He declined to give an update on the police report.

Gonzales spoke to the media on February 11, as he visited a $26 million water pipeline upgrade project in Woodland, which is expected to benefit as many as 40,000 users on completion in the next few months.

When issues pertaining to electricity and communication workers were posed to him, he refused to entertain any questions about the OWTU.

He said that was because his children were still traumatised by the visit the OWTU, led by its president general Ancel Roget and including some 100 members, staged on the night of November 8, 2024.

“Can you recall a couple of months ago, the OWTU showed up in a private community in East Trinidad with over 100 workers, traumatising a community including a family?

He said the workers came with scratch bombs which went off, traumatising residents.

“Are you concerned about my kids being traumatised?

“I am concerned about the union showing up at people's homes and traumatising their children. Are you concerned as I am about a family being traumatised. I think I should make a report to the OSH (Occupational Safety and Health Authority) because my children are traumatised.

“How come you don't ask me about that?” he asked media.

A Newsday article published on November 10, reported that electricity workers took their protest to one of Gonzales' homes in Arima.

The report said the aggrieved workers gathered outside the house at East Lakes, Tumpuna Road.

Roget advised the tenants to inform their landlord of the union's visit.

Gonzales is the line minister for the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission.

At the time of the incident, Newsday called and messaged Gonzales, who responded to a WhatsApp message, saying, “No comment on that matter. I wish all of them the best.”

This protest followed an October 24 nationwide protest to highlight issues affecting the commission and its workers, such as wages, staff shortages and filling vacancies with contracted workers, including retirees who have returned as contractors.

Roget said then, that contrary to Gonzales's boast about the value of TTEC workers when they assisted Caribbean neighbours affected by hurricanes and storms, they were not treated as such.