Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Armed with placards, pamphlets, flags, banners, blowhorns, snow cones and their voices, trade union members marched from Memorial Park to Woodford Square in Port-of-Spain yesterday, in a bid to pressure the Government to conclude long-standing wage negotiations.
At the start of the march, National Trade Union Centre (NATUC) general secretary Michael Annisette described the event as a “spiritual.”
However, as the procession moved along St Clair Avenue and passed the Office of the Prime Minister, the atmosphere appeared to take on a more anti-government tone.
Some participants waved flags, sounded horns and chanted, “Kamla must go,” while employees at the Office of the Prime Minister looked on and recorded the demonstration.
Police officers repeatedly urged marchers to keep moving as dancing and celebrations intensified outside the building.
Security was highly visible throughout the route, with at least five police vehicles, including a 26-seater truck carrying officers in riot gear, accompanying the procession. Other officers marched among participants or travelled alongside the music truck and at the front of the crowd.
Senior police officers were unable to provide an estimate of the crowd size up to press time.
Among the unions represented were the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), Trinidad and Tobago Registered Nurses Association (TTRNA), Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA), Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Trade Union (SWWTU), Contractors and General Workers’ Trade Union (CGWU) and the Steel Workers Union of Trinidad and Tobago (SWUTT).
Notably absent were the Public Services Association (PSA) and the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), both members of the Government’s Coalition of Interests.
Despite sharp criticism from the Government before and throughout the demonstration, union and political leaders also repeatedly insisted the march was not politically motivated.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar urged citizens, particularly her supporters, to avoid the capital during the protest, alleging that the 12 participating trade unions harboured political and racial hostility towards her administration.
However, Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles rejected that claim yesterday, saying the attendance of political figures was not an attempt to score political points.
“The Prime Minister probably has a short memory that she has marched many times with trade unions. This here is about solidarity with the trade union movement. We know that there are issues. The Prime Minister may have settled some of her issues with some unions, but there are still unions where wages, salaries and issues relating to the cost of living still arise. So I am not really concerned about how she feels about it,” Beckles said.
Former prime minister Stuart Young echoed those sentiments, saying he attended as a citizen supporting workers frustrated by protracted wage negotiations.
Patriotic Front leader Mickela Panday also dismissed the Prime Minister’s comments, accusing her of trying to politicise the demonstration.
“I don’t expect the Prime Minister to say anything else. What else can she say? Do you expect her to say this is a rally of the people’s disenchantment with how my Government has been performing for over a year and a half? She’s not going to say that. What I take umbrage with is bringing race into it,” Panday said.
The march, scheduled to begin at 9 am, started nearly two hours late and took about two hours to reach Woodford Square, where union leaders addressed supporters and complained about the slow pace of wage negotiations.
Along the route, participants kept cool with water, snow cones, lollies and the occasional beer.
Political leaders also stopped near Queen’s Royal College, encouraging students observing the march to focus on their education before entering politics.
At Woodford Square, union representatives renewed calls for the Government to accelerate wage talks and address workers’ concerns over salaries and the rising cost of living.
PSA boss condemns protest
Public Services Association president Felisha Thomas yesterday criticised the protest march, describing it as a betrayal of the workers the union leaders claimed to be representing.
“I will not walk with the very persons who caused the very workers they are pretending to care about to remain on 2013 salaries, destroyed the lives of thousands in Petrotrin and TSTT, and distressed thousands of workers in BIR, Customs, WASA and many more,” Thomas said in a WhatsApp response to questions from Guardian Media on her union’s decision not to participate in the protest march.
She added, “I cannot and will not pretend that the current state of this country is not a direct result of the poor governance of the PNM and their lack of care for the people of this country.”
Despite the OWTU’s absence from the event as well, one shop steward who requested anonymity said he attended in his personal capacity.
“I am a member of the OWTU who is displeased with the state of the country. I am a member of the OWTU who is displeased with the leadership of the OWTU. I represent the OWTU as a member, and I am making a stand,” he said.
He added, “My leader got one kiss from the Prime Minister and apparently he took it for love. I ain’t get no love. I want love. I want love for the country. One kiss can’t help me.”
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