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OWTU SPEAKS 2007.10.31

 

 

Good evening and welcome to the OWTU SPEAKS!

 

We are at the end of bacchanal Friday some say nasty days – when men- and women too-say the vilest things about each other, all in a desperate scramble for the vote to the Emperor’s chair, a seat at the Cabinet table and control of the national cash register.  That is what the election politics, Trinidad and Tobago style is all about.  And they do it with such contempt and disrespect to their gluttonous supporters and the ordinary electorate.  The campaign platforms have retreated to whose nose is up in the air and whose was locked in a suffocating embrace in a jaccuzi; who committed bestiality with a goat at eleven (11) and produced a twist mouthed donkey in 2007; the forgiveness of sins committed in 2000 and the commission of bigger sins in the current political milieu.  So many lies are told, so vituperative their language they poison the environment and heat tempers to unfortunate incidences.

 

There was always heavy picong in our national electioneering but there was decency and a general subscription to moral principles and the identification of people and country-interest issues.  Now, the jostle is among the stupid, the ignorant and the profane.  With the exception of those who are new and unknown and just a few-only a few others who have maintained a humble dignity-there is none who on his own will stand proper public scrutiny.  That is our sad state of political badjohnism.

 

There is so much reflection and rebuilding that those of us who love our country will have to do after the Red Beret clown and Austin and Mervyn are done with us.  That trio appear like the crook, moo-moo and the mook in a long time Bo Nancy story.

 

But this is serious business in which one desperate actor has threatened workers with official denial of their rights to a process that determines their entitlements.  And as all must know – ‘The OWTU is not easily intimidated’.  We have a song which sings – ‘We shall not be moved, we shall not be moved.  Just like the tree that’s planted by the waters, we shall not be moved’.

 

We respect all authority and we insist that we too be respected.

 

Big business influences political consideration of its own interests.  Why are workers’ interests chastised when Unions attempt the same?  Only the most foolish of politicians will be so tactless and insensitive.

 

A word to the wise.

 

Reflection is the game

 

Peace, Justice and equity are our aim.

 

I am Errol Mc Leod for the OWTU SPEAKS!

 

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OWTU SPEAKS 2007.10.26

 

 

This past week has been a long and arduous one and we are sure that consciousness building has been achieved in very great measure.  Good Evening and Welcome to the OWTU SPEAKS!

 

Our 24-hour Vigil outside Whitehall ended yesterday evening but our Rally for Justice and Equity and Free Collective Bargaining continues until the legitimate parties involved arrive at settlements for the workers at MTS and PTSC, NIB, TTBS, Fire Services, Hilton Trinidad, Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago, TTMF, Cariri, Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission.  All of these and others have been long outstanding and even the Prime Minister on last September, 21 announced that these matters will be settled before the November 5, General Elections.  It can be argued that there is some time yet before the General Elections but the blatant lethargy of Management in the mentioned companies and institutions and the apparent contempt displayed by the Government leave us with little confidence that the authorities are working to settle our long lists of issues anytime soon.  Even yesterday, the Members of Cabinet sneaked out through the back entrances after their regular Thursday morning meeting at Whitehall.  The hundreds of workers outside, iterated that they the Cabinet Ministers may run but they cannot hide. They are the same ones who are canvassing the workers for the vote on November 5.  they are the same ones who served themselves to more appropriate salaries and perquisites not once but three times in the past six years.  And all that the workers demand is ‘EQUITY.’

 

On the other hand, the Election campaign is devoid of sensible debate on important national, regional and global issues.  If anything, the candidates vying for the offices of Government – with only a handful of exceptions- have all been demonstrating their unfitness for the positions to which they aspire.  The campaign seems to be about who can spend more, lie more, and be more bacchanalian. It does not encourage nor does it summon or mobilize the nation to service for country.  It seems largely about party and narrow self interest.

 

There is hardly a principle anymore.

 

One of them-that is-one of the parties, clearly had the son of Martin Luther King Jnr violate the principles of the Foundation which his venerable father had founded when Luther King III intervened in the internal politics of sovereign Trinidad and Tobago.

 

Not satisfied with the results of that lousy attempt, they thought that they could easily disrespect the world’s tallest figure for statesmanship, modern struggle, peace and humanity, Nelson Mandela.  They sought Mandela’s help to promote their own self interest in the politics of Trinidad and Tobago.

 

Grandfather Mandela, noble and still modern, principled and internationally revered and respected, told them ‘No’.  It is reported that Comrade Mandela told them politely but firmly and decidedly: ‘No’, No thanks! Make your own confusion in T&T but leave Nelson Mandela out of it.