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REKINDLING
THE SPIRIT OF 1937! AGITATING, EDUCATING AND ORGANISING FOR PEACE, BREAD AND
JUSTICE!! COMRADES, As we meet, commune,
rally and demonstrate in historic Fyzabad to celebrate the 64th
Anniversary of the great June 19th, 1937 General Strike and
anti-colonial Revolt, the storm clouds of neo-liberal policies being so
ruthlessly pursued by the Panday UNC government have begun to break,
creating a deluge of destruction and misery in its wake. No section of the
working people can feel safe or secure. We are all faced with disaster,
whether we want to recognize it or not. What does our “storm
watch” show? OIL IN TURMOILIn its mad rush to sell
out our most valuable resources to their friends and family, those foreign
operators who are prepared to bribe their way into contracts and to the
new clique of political financiers, the privateers in the UNC are
destroying the oil industry. Putting Trinmar into Petrotrin as a
“strategic business unit’ and then immediately advertising for a joint
venture partner, the plan to give away some 900 oil wells to private
operators etc are just part of the nefarious plan to destroy our national
oil industry. Soon the refinery itself will be up for sale. NP is also in
the gun sights of the privateers. And in the process of all this
destruction oilworkers jobs will be lost and the nation will be deprived
of its patrimony. TELECOMMUNICATION MADNESSUnder the instructions
of the IDB and with guidance from local telecom magnate and Minister
Lindsay Gillette, the government has passed one of the worst pieces of
legislation since the law that allowed for the privatization of T&TEC’s
generation assets. The Telecommunications Act has set up TSTT for the
kill, and in the process jobs will be lost. PUBLIC SERVICE UNDER THREATThe UNC government
recklessly spent its way into huge debt in order to win votes the last
elections. The airport, road paving, and other projects cost this country
dearly. Now that the crunch is on the Minister of Finance Yet Ming, fully
supported by the Prime Minister wants to cut costs by retrenchment in the
public service. In addition, the government refuses to pay the legitimate
debt owed to public officers. FREE TRADE WILL DEVASTATE MANUFACTURING AND AGRICULTUREThe Free Trade Area of the Americas and the next round of the WTO will as things are going see the agenda of global capital being further entrenched. This agenda is for the big transnational corporations to get total access to all the natural resources and markets of the world. This agenda will see the local manufacturing sector being totally devastated as cheap imports flood our market. Once thriving companies like Nestle and Levers, not to mention the locally owned firms, employing hundreds of workers will become mere retailers, with factories turned into giant warehouses filled with imports. The same fate will
befell our agricultural sector, with our hard working farmers being
undersold by subsidized produce from the US and elsewhere. Already dairy,
pig, coffee and cocoa farmers are feeling the pinch and more is to come.
Even the sugar industry is under threat as the entire system of guaranteed
prices may be ended sooner rather than later. PRIVATISATION AT CARONI, LAKE ASPHALT AND TANTEAKThe dismantling of Caroni is under way with the fire-sale of the distillery to Duprey’s Angostura, and plans are being implemented to sell off citrus and rice operations. UNC financier Duprey is also due to acquire 49% of Tanteak, with the government insisting that it will retrench all the workers before the new joint venture takes over, thus enabling the new operator to start up with a workforce that will be paid a fraction of what the Tanteak workers enjoyed. Duprey is also slated to take control of Lake Asphalt Ltd. Not a bad return for some political investment, but who bears the cost – the workers!
We are certain that the
public utilities are being targeted for further privatization. Bids have
been invited for WASA. The Desal plant when it comes on stream will also
affect WASA’s viability adversely. T&TEC is being set up for
privatisation as more and more work is being done by non-permanent
workers. And the arrangements that allow large petrochemical plants to
generate their own electricity together with the Inncogen deal is costing
T&TEC dearly. All this will be used to justify privatization. SUPER EXPLOITATION OF CASUAL, CONTRACT and OTHER WORKERSTens of thousands of workers are being super exploited by corrupt and greedy employers all over the country. From big contractors who get multi-million $ contracts in the energy sector or in construction and road works, to stores, fast food outlets, security firms, and other non-unionised workplaces, there are workers who, in spite of the Minimum Wages Law, are not paid for overtime, get no paid time-off for sick leave and other emergencies such as the death of a family member. Many workers do not receive the minimum $7 per hour, while corrupt employers also break the law by deducting $$ for NIS etc and do not pay this to the relevant authority. VIOLENCE AND CRIME OUT OF CONTROL How many remember that the UNC said in 1995 that they would be able to deal with crime and that the terrible violence in our society would no longer be a cause for concern? That, of course was just election ole talk, since they had no plan other than to buy jeeps for the police. All the other measures, the harsh laws, the joint military operations, Shiprider and other treaties with the US, even the hanging of the Chadee gang have meant nothing in terms of reducing crime and violence. In fact this year there has been more murder and violent crime than at any other period in our history. We are also seeing more and more persons being killed by the police during police actions – a most worrying development. At the same time the protective services are in a state of disarray as exemplified by the current state of the nation’s prisons, and dissatisfaction about working conditions and other terms and conditions of work by most of the arms of the protective services. THE MOST VULNERABLE ARE SUFFERING Our women, children and the elderly – the most vulnerable – are suffering from economic and social policies that rather than protect them, in fact contribute to their misery. There are many thousands who live in abject poverty in the midst of so much wealth, a situation that leads to street children, prostitution, hunger and malnutrition. Women and children are particularly at risk as a terrible scourge of domestic violence runs through the land. And even the elderly are now the targets of crime and violence.
Our youth are especially at risk. The education system has failed most of our young people as will be seen when the CXC results come out and the vast majority of those who sat the exams will not get a full certificate. Yet we wonder why there is violence in schools! Youth are at risk from HIV/AIDS, a disease that is threatening to wipe out an entire generation. Youth unemployment is a major crisis, while the glamour and easy money of crime and drugs claim too many of our bright, energetic and talented young people. COMMUNITIES BEING UPROOTEDFrom Toco to Castara,
from Sea Lots to Santa Flora, from Las Cuevas to point Fortin, our
communities are under threat from a type of policy that places the
interest of big capital – resorts, marinas and golf courses, shopping
malls, high rise luxury apartments, and big oil – before that of
ordinary people whose lives are turned upside down by having their
property seized, their means of earning a living denied, their long
standing benefits such as community facilities and services terminated and
their way of life destroyed. This trend will be accelerated if the wicked
Planning and Development of Land Bill is ever made law. ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH JEOPARDISEDThe same policies that
uproot some communities threaten others with industrial pollution and a
consequent negative result for both the health of residents and workers
and the physical environment. The Atlantic LNG plant’s destruction of
beaches and the erosion of coastline from La Brea to Cedros is but one
example. Point Lisas continues to be a time bomb, waiting to explode while
silently killing people who live close by, evidenced by higher disease and
death rates. Mangroves are destroyed to build cineplexes and create
expensive real estate for the speculators to make a killing. And the drive
by employers to make a quick buck results in deaths of contractor workers
throughout industry.
PARLIAMENT – MOCKERY OF DEMOCRACYOur Parliament is
becoming a mockery of democracy as the system is manipulated to suit the
narrow interest of big capital and the ruling party. Laws that ought to be
passed in the interest of workers and the people – Occupational Health
and Safety Bill, updated Workmens Compensation, amendments to the IRA to
enable workers and trade unions to better defend themselves in this era of
globalisation – do not get passed, while laws to help capital like the
Telecommunication Act are. The government also tries at every opportunity
to pass laws such as the Planning and Development Bill, the so-called
Equal Opportunity Act, the Summary Offences (Amendment) Act, that violate
citizens’ constitutional rights. And at the same time, the UNC cynically
manipulates the Parliament using as their lap dog a defeated candidate who
is the most ignorant Speaker the country has ever had. PRIME MINISTERIAL DICTATORSHIP If nothing else, the experience of the last five years has demonstrated to all who did not know before that our political system is one where the citizen has power only once every five years when election time comes around. And even that power is being denied us through voter padding! After elections, political power resides in the hands of the Prime Minister. We have also seen that important civil society institutions like the trade unions and the press, as well as institutions of the state such as the Judiciary and the Office of the President, have been ruthlessly attacked whenever they have sought to perform their civil responsibility of acting as a check and balance on the power of the Prime Minister and government. If this trend continues then we shall soon have a prime ministerial dictatorship. WHAT IS TO BE DONE? Comrades the answer is to be
found in our theme for Labour Day. We must rekindle the spirit of 1937!
Agitating, Educating and Organising for Peace Bread and Justice!
What we therefore must seek to do
is to build a mass movement, a united movement of citizens that has as its
objective the creation of a just and equitable society where the abundant
resources of our country benefit all citizens, where there is peace, bread
and justice for all! This
is what Tubal Uriah Butler, Adrian Cola Rienzi, Elma Francois, Jim
Barrette and all the other patriots of ’37 succeeded in doing. And all
the social, economic and political gains that we have won before and since
1937 have been as a result of the mass movement. If we are to move forward
at this time, it can only be through the mass movement, conscious of its
objectives, united in its purpose and disciplined in its actions. This is
the task, this is the way forward! FORWARD EVER, BACKWARD
NEVER! ONE MOVEMENT, ONE
STRUGGLE! THE FIGHT IS AT THE WORKPLACE, THE FIGHT IS IN THE COMMUNITIES,
THE FIGHT MUST BE NATIONAL, THE FIGHT IS GLOBAL!!
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June 18th, 2001 Quiz and Poster Results
(winners) As part of our Annual
June 19th Labour Day Celebrations, the Oilfields Workers’
Trade Union held its 23rd Annual Primary Schools competition
for students between the ages of ten and twelve years in Counties
Victoria and St. Patrick. The competition ran in
two stages –A Poster drawing competition and A Quiz of fifty questions
which were taken from information “on the OWTU” and “short biographical data on
CLR James”. Students were required to make a poster depicting “ Ways
in Which People Destroy the Environment”. A total of One Hundred and
Seventy students took part in both aspects representing Thirty Four schools. The poster drawing and the preliminary round of the Quiz were held at various
venues on May 24th. The final stage of the competition was held at OWTU Paramount Building on Friday 15th June, 2001, when the semi-finals and finals of the Quiz competition and Prize Distribution function were videotaped for television. Four schools competed in the semi final round with AVOCAT VEDIC and SAN FERNANDO TML moving into the final round. On the basis of
results in both the Quiz and Poster categories the overall winner was
San Fernando TML who won the OWTU Schools Labour Day Challenge Trophy.
Prizes of Vouchers were
given to the best 12 students in the Category Poster, with the top three given Vouchers and
Trophies. In the Quiz Category Trophies and Vouchers were given to the
winning students with the losing semi finalists and quarter-finalists
receiving vouchers. Winning schools in both Quiz and poster aspects also
received trophies The televised
programmes of the two Semi-finals and the finals and prize giving will
be shown on TTT on a date to be announced. David Abdulah, Chief Education & Research Officer. back to Media Releases
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INSIGHT MAY-JUNE 2001 2001 – Negotiation Year and as yet the place is far from heating up. The climate is rather cool. But Chris Mahabeer has already greased his cannon and is waiting for us to make the first slip. For the first time that we can recall in the past twenty nine years that this company will be conducting negotiations in a strange environment. Suggested venue - Venture Administration Building, Couva - cost $2,000 per session. This of course is CP head shocks. Secondly CP No.1 consultant has hired a No. 2 consultant – name Bertrand Wilson, who was employed with the Ministry of Labour during our last negotiations. He left soon after to work with Ansa McAl and refused to give evidence against Hydro Agri in the COLA take back issue, What’s his price? Soon after VIK came here he promised that he would be a people’s man; he would not run the company by sitting in the office but he is doing exactly that. Those who live on top of the mountain will not hear the cry from the Valley. The engine room of this complex is out in the fields, yet the fields’ employees are treated like dirt. This has been so since the Grace era and the belief and practice has NOT changed one bit. The combination of VIK and Mahabeer has shown total disregard for the union and the collective agreement. WE MUST blame ourselves for allowing this nonsense to happen because “once it doesn’t affect me they could do what they want”; but this is not so, since if the Company does it once and gets away then that becomes precedent. For instance “the call back” issue should NOT HAVE GONE TO THE COURTS since it is already enshrined in the collective agreement how that aspect MUST be paid, but the Company paid how they interpreted it and we never queried or took up a grievance on that issue. However while we continue to sit on our laurels and drive our new cars and expect the “union” to struggle for us, our benefits are slowly being taken away from us. On a daily basis there are MORE contractor employees on the complex than permanent employees, but because we get a chance to oversee two contract employees we do nothing to derail that process. We are supervising the erosion of our own jobs. WAKE UP NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE. You may have noticed that Chris Mahabeer is now a permanent employee. His initial two-year stint should have ended in December 2000 but he continues to be here. He drives one of the Company’s rented car, has all the perks, free gas, park inside the Asst. Managers’ car park, and does not even have to swipe a card. Those are some of his privileges. And we sit by and watch. BRAUN - NEAR DISASTER AGAIN? After a turn around (3 weeks) HAT Plant was on its way up. Few stumbling blocks on the way, but it was on the final bend. On Th ursday 17th May, 2001 at 11.00 a.m. the electrical start up heater caused some gas to ignite, consequently causing a fire on the converter. The details will be revealed after the investigation is completed. Again the “Union” was treated with scant courtesy. Immediate arrangements were made for the “Chief Safety Delegate” to have time off to attend the investigation due to begin on Friday 18th. The “Local Branch” was not even informed that there was to be an investigation, far less the Central Office. It was only on the persistence of the local branch that the Union was invited to be part of the Investigation Team. The arrogance of Charles Percy and VIK continues. Regardless of their superficial expressions, their vindictive ness and arrogance always get the better of them. VIK continues to be mismanaged by his senior managers, all of whom allowing are looking for the elusive Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. Re: May 2001 profile – local manager in charge VIK has so far proven to be a confused wreck, just like his predecessors. WELL DONE TRINGEN II Tringen II recently achieved a major milestone of one year uninterrupted run recently. But the employees who were responsible for such achievement were not equally compensated. A pen set with their names and a picture in the Express is what they have to show for that. They should have at least been given 10% or 36.5 days pay for that 365 uninterrupted run. But the Norwegian will NOT pay that to natives when they pay $56.5m US a year for Norwegians to travel by air. That amount is almost 6 years’ salaries for all employees at the Trinidad complex including expatriates. On the heels of that, Tringen I reached 100 days uninterrupted run and the management of the plant didn’t have the courtesy of at least saying “thanks” to all those responsible for that achievement. This is NOT Tringen I’s record but Tringen I has come a long way since almost every month previously there used to be same outage. INCOMPETENCE AND INDECISIVENESS For the past six months Tringen 1 has been without its No.1 Bypass Compressor resulting in a loss of at least 10 tons of ammonia per day. When the No. 1 compressor was wrecked, management did not decide to replace it. Since they (AVC and others) thought that repairs would be easier and cheaper. But they have NOW decided to replace the old one and had a new compressor been bought then, Tringen 1 would have recovered the cost of that compressor by now. Again the meanness of management clearly shows the case of “penny wise pound Foolish” and that’s the calibre of Senior Management here. RUNNING IT DOWN? Over the past 6 months, nine experienced engineers have left here to seek greener pastures and this company doesn’t seem to have any intention to replace them. They will simply contract out all projects in future and hope for the best. Rumours have it that CNC has made an approach to buy out Norsk Hydro shares in Tringen 1 & Tringen 11 so that Hydro Agri is trying to run down the facilities to the ground before selling, the same way Texaco run down the PAP refinery just prior to selling. With the changing of the guards anything seems possible. Rightsizing, downsizing, call it what you want, it leads to an unsafe condition because it’s asking that less people do the jobs of these who were literally forced out. How many years of experience and know-how went down the drain? Modern technology only knows how to protect plant, equipment and machinery NOT people’s lives. So you become the robot and the equipment and machinery is the brain. Heaven help us all when machines and equipment begins to run our lives! You know the story of the white fowl that saw the car coming down the road and could not move out of the way because she did not learn that aspect in her life growing up in an artificial environment. And most of us have been eating too much white fowl that we even think like them. FORCING OLD SOLDIERS OUT Recently L. Naipaul was forced to accept Medical Unfitness. In what some Norsk Hydro installations consider Industrial Injury (employee going to or returning from work). Naipaul was sent home only with Severance Pay no Workmen’s Compensation. It was almost certain that Naipaul could not have returned to his former normal condition, but at the Learning Centre he was doing an invaluable service with regard to documentation. This company chose to write him off medically unfit, taking with him, his knowledge. R. Mahabir who was for a long time doing planning, P & ID’s, documentation and organising on the plant was told that there was no longer any work for him on the plant. He was told so in no uncertain terms by former Canadian refugee Michael Welch. Following being sent off on the plant he had a short stint at the Learning Centre and was subsequently sent to the Stores. But ironically enough, a Senior Opertor is being pulled out of Operations (which is already short) and rotated on a monthly basis to perform exactly the same duties that Roddy was doing previous to the Canadian refugee’s curtailment of those duties. What was the master plan? Similarly, Lloyd Stephens voluntarily accepted the package but this company still has him here on some type of special project - to eliminate the permanent security staff. $5.00 security is the way to go by Stephens. LABOUR DAY IN FYZABAD This year, again like some time previously, there will be two Labour Day Marches. One in Fyzo and one in Arima. Siparia fete was never held in Port of Spain, nor was Point Fortin Borough Day held in Chaguanas. Butler was Fyzabad and Fyzabad is so that Butler Day (Labour Day) cannot be held anywhere else but Fyzabad. 2001 with only 4 Unions expected to be represented in Fyzabad we MUST all turn out as OWTU Members so that the 10,000 marchers of previous years will not be decreased. We must make it our duty to be in Fyzabad on June 19th 2001 at 9.00 a.m. Arm yourself with your Flag and Placard, Union Jersey and a bottle of water, to join the March from Avocat Junction to Butler statue, Charlie King Junction. If we fail to have a good showing then “Crapaud Smoke We Pipe”. COLA JOKE Not Dale Kolasingh but COLA has gone down from March to May. That has to be ridiculous. Over the past two months all that has fluctuated down was tomatoes and pepper; vegetable prices, chicken and not to mention ground provision (Blue Metal) remained high. Since prior to Easter those prices sky rocketed and stayed up. Fish prices may have decreased slightly but not to create an impact on COLA. The Basket and the method of Indexation MUST BE reviewed in order to be more realistic to people needs, other wise COLA would be meaningless and not represent what COLA really means to the layman. |