Roget’s deliberate plot to deceive a nation

NO letter was ever sent to the Head of State requesting the removal of the Industrial Court President, Deborah Thomas-Felix, and any such claim is the fabrication of a perverse mind that is intent on deceiving a nation to achieve a personal agenda.

In a statement from the Government, issued Thursday by the Ministry of Communication, claims by President General of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union, Ancel Roget, have been categorically dismissed as “false and a complete fabrication orchestrated to deceive an entire population.”

At a news conference Thursday, Roget falsely claimed that the National Petroleum’s (NP’s) general manager of human resources, Geeta Ragoonath, wrote to the Head of State requesting that Thomas-Felix’s contract not be renewed as President of the Industrial Court.

“At no time was any letter ever sent to His Excellency asking for the removal of the Industrial Court President. The OWTU President General’s claim is an utterly deceitful fabrication and demonstrates yet again that he intends to abuse his position and mislead his membership because of his personal dubious agenda,” the release stated.

“The Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration is by far the most labour-friendly and people-centred Government in all our years of self-governance and that fact is demonstrated by the settlement of more than 70 collective agreements in less than four years, putting billions of dollars in outstanding wage increases into the pockets of the people.”

The release added: “We must recall that Mr Roget has made clear in the past years that his mission is to destabilise our country and our economy, and with fabrications such as his latest claims, he is proving that he is not above deliberately flooding the media with misinformation.”

“That Mr Roget would resort to concocting stories also proves that the industrial relations environment is extremely stable, largely because of the Government’s pro-worker and pro-labour agenda. In the absence of facts he is now resorting to making up stories to back his empty and vacuous claims.”

The Government also questioned whether Roget would be willing to abide by his own demands, saying: “Will Mr Roget now come clean and apologise for deliberately misleading the media and the population? Will he resign, having disgraced himself and his union with such deliberate deception?”

The release went on to assure workers and trade unions that “the Kamla Persad-Bissessar Administration will spare no effort in maintaining its good relationship with the trade union movement and ensuring that ultimately, the rights and best interests of the people are always held as the most important priority.”