PRESSURE MOUNTS ON BARRYCWU not backing down on 10% TSTT wage demand; presses for meeting with PM

Senior Reporter

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Weeks before the Government presents its second budget, Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) Secretary General Joanne Ogeer says her union will not back down on its 10 per cent wage hike request. Furthermore, Ogeer is now calling on the Prime Minister to meet with the union to settle outstanding negotiations, saying she will not deal with Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath.

Speaking to the media outside TSTT House on Edward Street, Port-of-Spain, during a midday protest yesterday, Ogeer said she wants to bypass Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath and speak directly with the Prime Minister.

“I did say at the press conference that I called out to the Prime Minister and Madam Prime Minister, I don’t know if you’re not looking, but I’m asking you: I am willing to meet with you. Even Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles could see that what we have are facts. So, those who have ears will hear, and those who have eyes will see.”

At the end of the protest, she noted that she preferred a conversation with the PM over Padarath.

“I don’t want to speak with him. I’m going over his head,” she said.

Ogeer is again calling on TSTT to settle wage negotiations for the periods 2020-2022 and 2022-2025 through a combined 10 per cent increase, which she again claimed had already been agreed upon.

“Again, the 10 per cent did not appear in a vacuum. Those numbers were crunched, and I want to say this and be very pellucid in my utterances. We met with the ousted chief executive officer, Mr Keino Cox, and one of his financial advisers, an employee at TSTT, right here, and we crunched the numbers. As a matter of fact, we received five proposals and rejected four, accepting one. That one was able to settle a 10 per cent increase over two three-year periods.”

This account, however, has been rejected by Padarath, who issued a pre-action protocol letter to Ogeer calling on her to publicly apologise for statements she made at a media conference. The letter was sent last week following a media conference at the union’s Henry Street head office and gave Ogeer 14 days from receipt to respond.

Ogeer, however, dismissed the legal threat yesterday, warning that she would not be sidetracked.

“We are saying today that it is not about the distraction and the noise surrounding who received pre-action protocol letters or any attempt to muzzle the union, because they will not be able to muzzle this union. We act in the best interests of our members, and we remain resolute and convicted in all our utterances because we do not speak in a vacuum.”

She added, “Today is not about any pre-action protocol letters, and before you ask, let me just say yes, I received two, one from the corporate secretary and another from Minister Padarath. But that’s a distraction right now. The law will take care of that, and we have a battery of attorneys dealing with it. Today is all about what workers deserve.”

She further cautioned Padarath against what she described as “stepping into the gayelle” to fight the union. Instead, she urged him to focus his attention on TSTT and the alleged corruption within the company, rather than trying to “muzzle the union.”

Guardian Media called and sent a WhatsApp message to Padarath, but up to press time there had been no response.

Ogeer called on TSTT to disclose how it achieved its highest profit in 17 years and what role workers played in generating that result. She said workers ought to be compensated for the efforts they made to improve the company’s profitability.

Now that the State of Emergency has ended and the ban on public protests has been lifted, Ogeer vowed to continue protesting in pursuit of what she described as workers’ rightful dues.

She said TSTT had offered three dates, beginning on October 27, to resume wage negotiations.

“If we cannot return to the bargaining table, then we’ll have to do what is necessary, which is to act in a manner that is lawful and right. Then we may have to proceed to another avenue, still well within the ambit of the law.” Asked about the relatively small turnout of about two dozen people, Ogeer said, “After suffering a massive restructuring in 2022, we have a lot of remote work, so many workers are now working from home and have been scattered across the organisation. In the past, before 2018, you would have seen hundreds of people here. You can’t see that anymore because many of them are working from home and, again, there is a fear factor.”

Ogeer also claimed the company had threatened workers over participating in the protest, a claim that Guardian Media was unable to independently verify.

However, the CWU received support from Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association president Crystal Ashe, Aviation, Communication and Allied Workers’ Union president Nwannia Sorzano and Steel Workers Union of Trinidad and Tobago president Timothy Bailey and environmental activist Wayne Kublalsingh.