2002 Aug 29
CEMEX DEFEATED!
P. G. MCLEOD LEADS OWTU TO VICTORY!
The Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union, led by its President General Comrade Errol K. McLeod won the most significant workers and peoples victory for many a year when through our mobilization we were able to have the shareholders of Trinidad Cement Ltd. defeat the Resolution brought by Cemex to the TCL EGM to have removed, the 20% ceiling on share ownership by any single investor. Comrades, because of much misleading information in the public domain, we need to set the record straight.
Approximately 90% of the total number of TCL shareholders voted, either at the EGM itself or by proxy earlier. The vote was 67% in support of the Resolution and 33% against. Cemex’s 20% shareholding meant that it had more than 20% of the vote at the EGM (20% of the total shares adds up to more than 20% of the votes if there is a 90% turnout). So of the 67% of the vote in support of the resolution, more than 20% was Cemex voting for itself!
So Cemex had the support of less than 47% of the other shareholders. But of this 47%, just over 10% represented the shares held by the National Insurance Board. Excluding Cemex and NIB, fewer than 37% of TCL shareholders supported Cemex! In fact had the NIB Board voted in the interest of NIS contributors and beneficiaries, then the vote at the TCL EGM would have been over 43% against and less than 37% in support of Cemex.
The trade unionists in the so-called NATUC are making a lot of noise about their Court action against the NIB. The fact is that the OWTU was able to defeat Cemex regardless of the outcome of the Court matter involving the NIB. The truth is that these posers did not deliver the NIB vote. They did not ensure that the NIB voted against Cemex. They ought to have ensured long before the Board meeting that the issue of NIB Board members who are employees of RBTT and Guardian Holdings was exposed so that the vote could have been won even before the Board met. And we repeat, in the end we were able to defeat Cemex without the NIB Court action.
In addition, there is absolutely no evidence that the Unions belonging to the so-called NATUC instructed the Trustees of pension plans that owned TCL shares to vote against Cemex. Nor did they even make sure that the credit unions to which so-called NATUC members belong voted against. Indeed, we will expose all those unionists to be the frauds that they are – because sooner or later the information will come out as to how the WASA pension plan (NUGFW) voted, how Aero Services and City of Port of Spain Credit Unions voted, how FCB pension plan (BIGWU) voted and so on. And they have the temerity to claim that they had a part to play in the victory!
The posers will be exposed. And so will those within the OWTU who, for purely opportunistic reasons support the so-called NATUC, and who write letters praising these foolers and attacking their own Union, the OWTU and its leadership.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating! So it was with the struggle to save TCL. We knew that we required a minimum of 25% of the shareholders to defeat Cemex. That was our objective. We therefore had to have a strategy to get more than 25% of the shareholders to vote against the Resolution.
This struggle was not an industrial relations struggle. It was not a traditional battle against an employer or the management. In fact in this struggle the Union and TCL’s Board and management were on the same side. It was a battle to win the minds of those shareholders whom we could win over and demand that the trustees of those shares owned by workers through their pension plans did as they were instructed to do.
We therefore had to employ very scientific strategies and generate a national and regional movement against Cemex, a movement that so captured the hearts and minds of people that the ordinary shareholder would vote against Cemex, while the managers of capital would also vote against, in so far as our capital (pension funds) was concerned. Had this struggle been led by some adventurous persons they would have alienated so many people that the battle would have been lost almost before it started.
We were very clear in our analysis. The shareholders that would support Cemex represent primarily the big institutional investors – the banks and insurance companies, the big corporations and the private investment companies owned by the very rich. On the other hand, the shareholders who would most likely vote to save TCL represented the ordinary people of this country – the workers at TCL, the pension fund assets of Petrotrin, Trinmar, TSTT and T&TEC workers, credit unions, and the many thousands of citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and in the Caribbean.
The Union, under the PG’s leadership immediately set about to implement its strategy. Included in our actions were the following:
Ø Encouraging the other Unions at TCL (the Senior Staff Assoc. and the EPA) to engage in joint action with the OWTU
Ø Supporting the TCL workers in taking militant action in order to publicise the issue; to pressure the government to take a pro T&T position; and to let Cemex know that they were not wanted. These actions included pickets outside the plant, motorcades, and pickets of Whitehall.
Ø Mobilising the various Unions in the Caribbean to meet, develop a joint position and engage in co-ordinated struggles throughout the region.
Ø Putting pressure on the Manning government to defend the national and regional interest. This included demonstrating that the T&T government’s position was out of step with other Caricom governments, especially Barbados.
Ø Sustaining a public information and education campaign so that the real issues got out. We published several very effective ads in the press and on TV, as well as used the Flashpoint to educate our members. We also did a direct distribution of letters to key shareholders, and utilized our web-page and sent info to other web-pages to get the message out.
Ø The undoubted highlight of our public education campaign was the televised Address to the Nation by the President General. This very powerful address will be long remembered and so important was it that people who didn’t see it, but who were told about it, requested that it be rebroadcast. It was eventually broadcast three times on TV6. It struck a deadly blow against Cemex, exposed the government’s hollowness and absence of nationalism on the part of the controllers of capital.
Ø Through the above action plan we were sure that we had convinced the vast majority of small and medium shareholders. We had already lobbied the credit unions, the majority of whom we were sure would vote against Cemex. Other important institutions were also on our side. But we were not confident about the NIB, despite the lobbying that we did. We could not trust the words of the posers in the other trade unions. We therefore knew that the key to victory would be the big pension plans – T&TEC, TSTT, Trinmar and Petrotrin. Once we had them with us Cemex would be defeated. And so our last action focused on the Trustees of these plans.
Ø We therefore gradually intensified the squeeze on the Trustees. First we warned them publicly that we would move our pension funds from them if they did not vote in accordance with members’ wishes. We then ensured that a formal letter was sent to all Trustees by the members’ representatives on the Management Committees of the plans, instructing the Trustees to vote against Cemex. We also made this public in a full page ad. To make sure that they got the message the banks’ head offices were picketed by officers and shop stewards from oil branches and the TCL workers.
Ø We worked with the Communication Workers’ Union, our colleague in FITUN, and the CWU leadership ensured that TSTT management instructed the Trustees.
Ø At T&TEC, we aborted any attempt to have the Management Committee sidelined in the decision on how the T&TEC shares would be voted. In the end, as a result of our work the Management Committee voted unanimously that T&TEC’s pension plan shares would vote against Cemex.
Ø We were now almost assured of victory but we also wanted to ensure that 8% TCL shareholding collectively held by Petrotrin & Trinmar’s pension plans would also vote against. RBTT and Republic had already sent out letters advising the Management Committees to vote with Cemex. We knew that some weak members of the Company’s Executive Management would go along with whatever the banks told them. They have no real commitment to T&T. They like multinationals like Cemex, some of them believe that foreign is better than local.
Ø We therefore did not rely on the Executive Management. And at a meeting with the Minister of Energy and the Chairman of the Petrotrin Board, our President General made a powerful statement on the issue. The Minister and the Chairman knew that the OWTU and its leadership was deadly serious. They agreed that Petrotrin’s pension plans should vote as instructed by the members.
Ø But we still did not trust some members of the company’s management. We could take nothing for granted. Too much was at stake. And so, at our Union’s Annual Conference of Delegates on July 27th, the P.G. instructed that all oil branches must take steps to ensure that their instructions to the Trustees was going to be followed.
Ø And so on the morning of the TCL EGM, Petrotrin workers were alerted that they may have to intervene. And our militant comrades at Trinmar were so uncomfortable about the situation that they were in no frame of mind to work until they got documentary proof that the Trustees were instructed by the company to vote against Cemex.
Ø The battle had been won! Our strategy had worked. But it is never over until the fat lady sings. And so the TCL workers were joined by their comrades from oil and electricity outside the Naparima Bowl venue of the EGM. And they remained there until the verdict was in. TCL – YES, CEMEX – NO!
Indeed, the vote at the TCL EGM demonstrated the power that ordinary people possess! The retired persons, the small business-people, the teachers and public officers, professionals and blue-collar workers, regardless of race, religion, age or gender affirmed that they wish to be an integral part of building a Trinidad and Tobago and a Caribbean where we can all have an equal place.
These shareholders, the ordinary people, made a very clear statement - that they believe in a society where making a quick dollar is not the most important objective. These shareholders expressed commitment to the vision of a strong national and regional economy, to the growth of our own capital market and the establishment of a Caribbean Single Market and Economy. They rejected the policies of neo-liberal globalisation with its emphasis on profits at the expense of workers and the community.
The vote also demonstrated the power of workers who own the largest single source of savings in the country – pension funds with $15 billion in assets! For years the owners and managers of big capital saw these pension funds as “their money” so that they, and they alone, would decide how to invest and use it. Well, that is the past. A new chapter has been opened in the exercise of power by workers. From now on the workers will be involved in making the decisions about their money! This is a major victory for workers’ power! And we shall be following this up by having all the Pension Plan Trust Deeds and Rules amended so that, similar to that of T&TEC, workers are able to exercise their decision making power more directly.
Capital Retreats
So decisive was our victory in Round One that Cemex and big capital like Guardian Holdings and Neal & Massy have retreated. They have withdrawn their plan to remove the existing TCL Board and replace it with their nominees, persons who will do their bidding. But we must remain ever vigilant and united for they will come again!
Lessons From the Struggle
Comrades, there are many lessons that we can learn from the TCL struggle, lessons that we can take into future struggles. Firstly, wise leadership pursues good strategy, knowing who the enemy is, isolating that enemy, neutralising those who may be against you, winning over those who are not sure where they stand and uniting as many as possible in a common struggle.
Secondly, a good strategy is one where you don’t need to fire all your weapons at the start of the struggle. One must be able to consistently step up the struggle, thus keeping your opponent off balance. You must be able to dictate the pace, set the agenda. The adventurous, in their attempt to prove their militancy would want to start off with mass action. After they fire their first shot they will have none left to finish the job! The result will always be unsatisfactory!
Most importantly, however, the TCL struggle demonstrates that the ordinary citizen – the working people and poor – are opposed to neo-liberal globalistion. And that we can, with proper strategy mobilize the majority to take action against all the policies that are anti-people, anti-worker. Let us therefore redouble our campaign for “Jobs, Decent Jobs and Job Security for All” and build united struggles around all the issues that affect us.
HAIL THE TCL VICTORY!
LONG LIVE THE OWTU!