Unions tells Gov't: Look out for a surprise

This Government is in for a surprise if outstanding negotiations are not addressed, president of the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) Ancel Roget said on Tuesday.

He compared the surprise to the sudden change in legal tender, where the public were rushing to commercial banks to change their $100 bills before December 31.

Speaking to the media outside the Eric Williams Finance Building, Port of Spain, Roget said he delivered another letter as a reminder to Finance Minister Colm Imbert to address the issues.

Roget also called on the Government and Imbert to begin discussions with unions, which he said wanted to resolve all outstanding negotiations.

He said the first letter was delivered on November 21, but to date there had been no response.

“I think we want to afford ourselves the same opportunity of the element of surprise and not announcing what would be the next step. But certainly there would be many steps going forward.

“People are going through the hardship of having to line up in sun or rain to change out their old money. People are crunched into a time frame.”

Roget said bank workers were also suffering the same hardship, working extended hours and face health and safety issues.

He said those workers too have outstanding negotiations.

“The teachers in this country face the same issue on a daily basis because their negotiations are outstanding.

“Approximately 40 negotiations for different periods of collective bargaining – dating back to 2005 to date, some of them overlapping into two and three periods of collective bargaining – have not been addressed.”

Roget said while workers continue to bear the brunt of the economic burden, nobody addresses their issues. He said it is a mark of major disrespect not to begin discussions as to how the Government is going to discharge the debt owed to thousands of them.

“We took this morning to give the minister a gentle reminder again that these negotiations are long overdue, outstanding, and it is time we begin the discussions. It is time we begin the discussion with the ministry, the various entities, the CPO, whosoever have the responsibility to talk with the various trade unions as to how and when this debt is going to be discharged.”

Roget said two specific cases involved the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and the Cipriani College of Labour and Cooperative Studies, whose negotiations had not been addressed since 2005.

He said now is the time for the Government to demonstrate its commitment to ensure all workers are treated fairly.

“Could you imagine, if you are not against labour in any way at all, how do you explain Cipriani College of Labour negotiation?

“We are not asking for anything that we don’t deserve or did not work for. We are asking for what is ours. And more profoundly, again, we are asking for workers in this country to be treated with the requisite level of respect and dignity,” Roget said.