Opposition Leader’s Message on the Occasion of Labour Day 2024

WE SHALL OVERCOME: “The power of the working class is the hope of the nation”.

On this significant Labour Day holiday, I salute our nation’s working men and women with pride, hope, and solidarity.

Trinidad and Tobago’s revolutionary labour movement began in the 1930s, with the historic hunger marches led by Elma Francois, Jim Headley, Jim Barrette and Dudley Mahon from 1933-35, and the protests of 800 sugar workers at Brechin Castle, Esperanza and other Central and Northern Sugar Estates on July 6, 1934.

On June 19, 1937, the historic Butler Oilfield Riots officially cemented the trade union movement as a viable social, economic and political force, which created the very foundation of our modern-day democracy.

The labour movement has secured much of what we often take for granted —minimum wage, forty-hour work week, rights to sick, personal and maternity leave, workplace security, workers’ compensation, insurance and pension plans.

Today, however, Labour Day finds our nation in considerable social and economic turmoil under the destructive anti-worker, anti-trade union PNM Government. The Rowley regime continues its concerted, calculated attack against the working class and has now ruthlessly eroded the base of organised Labour.

This is evidenced by their unjustified closure of Petrotrin and other State companies, and the complete collapse of the free collective bargaining process over the past nine years. Under my tenure as Prime Minister (2010-2015), we settled over one hundred and thirty-three (133) collective agreements valued at close to $6b. Since then, no negotiations have been settled, except for the imposition of four (4) per cent.

Further, mass retrenchment has been the order of the day under the guise of restructuring. There has also been a proliferation of contract employment throughout the public sector, resulting in over 16,000 contract workers currently in the Civil Service, equivalent to its permanent cadre of some 16,000.

The Rowley Government is now seeking to privatise and contract the services of workers employed in the Board of Inland Revenue and the Customs and Excise Division. The UNC shall reverse these dangerous anti-worker measures when we return to office, as well as ensure an independent collective bargaining process.

We will also review the laws in relation to essential services, to make them consistent with the conventions and recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The UNC also recommits to fundamental Labour reform measures, including a comprehensive revision of the Industrial Relations Act, an overhauling of the archaic Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act inclusive of the establishment of the Severance Fund Regime, and a Basic Conditions of Work regime under the well-established ILO principle of Tripartism and Social Dialogue.

Over the past nine years, the Rowley regime has also consistently inflicted brutally harsh conditions on the working and middle classes. This is manifested in rising prices, deteriorating working and living conditions, increased unemployment, widespread poverty, massive increases in the cost of living and the imposition of numerous oppressive and repressive taxes.

Further, Trinidad and Tobago is at present, hovering on the brink of societal breakdown in the face of an unprecedented, sadistic crime and violence wave that has citizens living in a state of acute terror. This has engendered an overwhelming sense of frustration and deep despair among the population.

Yet, Labour Day reminds us that the power to uproot a tyrannical Government ultimately lies in the hands of the people. The ordinary working man and woman, through unity and determination, can change oppressive political and economic systems by fighting for their rights of dignity, fairness, equality and justice.

This then is the endearing lesson from our nation’s pioneering labour greats like Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler, Captain Andrew Arthur Cipriani, George Weekes, Albert Gomes, Adrian Cola Rienzi (born Krishna Deonarine), Elma Francois, C.L.R James and Basdeo Panday. On behalf of the UNC, I wish the Labour movement a happy, meaningful and effective Labour Day.

I urge them to unite in defence of our citizens’ safety, security, freedom and the nation’s democracy and eternally struggle against the Rowley Government’s destructive authoritarianism and indifference to the people’s plight.

For, in our darkest hours, we must always remember the words of the great civil and labour rights anthem: “We’ll walk hand in hand. We shall all be free, We are not afraid, We are not alone.

Deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome some day.”