OWTU leader: Workers will save Trinidad and Tobago from pandemic

OILFIELDS Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget said on Saturday that workers, not the Government nor the Opposition, will rescue Trinidad and Tobago from the covid19 pandemic.

In making this declaration on Saturday at the grave of labour movement founder Tubal Uriah "Buzz" Butler at the Fyzabad Public Cemetery, Roget also reminded that the labour movement in TT is not dead.

Normally Labour Day celebrations include a wreath laying ceremony at Butler's grave, a marathon, procession of trade unions and their members to Charlie King Junction in Fyzabad and speeches by labour leaders at the venue. The latter three activities were stopped last year and this year owing to the pandemic.

For this Saturday and Sunday only, adjusted curfew times of 10am to 5am were imposed to further restrict people's movements and curb the spread of covid19.

Accompanied by a small group of labour representatives, all masked and well-spaced out, with police officers looking on nearby, Roget laid wreaths at Butler's grave site.

"Today, 84 years later, the trade union movement is not dead. It is alive and this is testament that the trade union movement is alive."

"The curfew, SoE (state of emergency), the pandemic, will come to an end and it will come to an end because of the contribution of workers. Not Prime Minister, Opposition, Government, parliamentarians."

Roget said, "It is the workers who are here, there and everywhere as we speak, continuing to keep the wheels of the economy going." He said, "Were it not for workers, there is no TT." Roget praised the efforts of all frontline essential workers to "keep this country going."

He claimed the Government has used "every single measure and method to try to cut down, denigrate, get rid of the trade union movement. Roget said all those efforts will fail because "we will be ready to be back on the streets when all of this is over and it be over, I assure you."

He lamented that because of the pandemic "so many people today do not have the wherewithal to put food on the table because they are out of a job." Roget was concerned about more people losing jobs before the pandemic is over.

He said real leaders emerge and real leadership is displayed "when the challenge comes."

"That is not happening in the country." He described TT's leaders as "lifeguards who cannot swim...parade up and down the beach...strut up and down the beach...but when somebody begins to drown...they cannot rescue (them)...they cannot rescue TT."

Former Sheep and Goat Farmers Association president Shiraz Khan said he agreed with Roget that the UNC was no better than the PNM. "We continue to have an Opposition, just for opposition sake and enjoy money and nice salary."

Khan and Communication Workers' Union general secretary Clyde Elder also criticised Finance Minister Colm Imbert for comments he made at a webinar hosted by the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) on June 9 about the potential that longevity risks pose to a country's pension systems. Both men claimed Imbert was implying that senior citizens in TT were living too long and causing a burden on the economy.

At that webinar, Imbert said while the life expectancy of the 60-plus population has increased steadily over the last 50 years, he pointed out, birth rates have decreased during the same period. The National Insurance Board (NIB) has projected that by 2066, the 60-plus population in TT will be almost double, while the group the population relies on to sustain the fund (NIS) – the 16-59 age group – will decrease by at least 25 per cent.

Imbert said no decision has been taken and various different options are being considered to sustain the fund, such as increasing the retirement age from 60 to 65. He said Government is also examining the possibility of fully incorporating informal workers into the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). He said this could provide needed coverage for the most vulnerable in society and provide support for the NIS' long-term sustainability.