'Like a thief in the night'

Unionists threaten to strike suddenly

PORT-OF-SPAIN (CMC):

Trade union leaders yesterday warned Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar to prepare for a nationwide strike, accusing her administration of 'contradiction' as well as 'deception' in dealing with the issue of a five per cent cap for wage negotiations for public workers in Trinidad and Tobago.

Leaders of the 19 trade unions, who met with the prime minister earlier this week to discuss the cap issue, told a news conference that a series of meetings with workers across the country would begin today in preparation for the nationwide strike which they maintain would come "like a thief in the night".

"We did not say that there was going to be a national strike after the meeting with the prime minister, we made careful to continue to remind the country about that. What we did say, however, is that it will come like a thief in the night," said the president general of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union, Ancel Roget, the main spokesman for the joint trade union movement.

He dismissed those "washed up trade unionists" who disagree with the strategies being undertaken by the labour movement, and also issued a warning to Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar that she is being "set up by a cabal" of people who are among her close advisers.