Union leaders unafraid of jail in wage showdown

President of the Public Service Association, Watson Duke, on Monday night dismissed the threat of criminal penalty against public workers by the Persad-Bissessar administration on the eve of a nationwide strike over demands for high wages.

"This is a class war. It is the ruling class against the working class. They want to paralyse us, they want to stamp us out, but this time around, we are saying that we are not afraid of the law. Let them use the law. We will use whatever tools we have to fight against oppression," Duke said on television.

"It will be blow for blow, punch for punch, force for force. We are not going to allow anybody to dispose us of our finances (and) walk away smiling."

Earlier Finance Minister Winston Dookeran told a news conference that he was making public servants aware of the provisions contained in the Industrial Relations Act that provides for fines and jail terms for embarking upon industrial action within the essential services.

Under the law, public servants could face a fine of at least TT$500 (US$83) or three months in prison.

Section 69 Subsection (1) of the Industrial Relations Act, said Dookeran, identifies the categories of persons prohibited from taking industrial action, and specifically names members of the public service.

He said the act also outlines penalties to be imposed on individuals and holders of offices "in their recognised association or union who ... calls for industrial action to be taken or induces or persuades any person to take such action".

Public servants have been agitating for months for a better salary increase than the five per cent which the seven-month-old administration has been offering, and the union called the nationwide strike on Tuesday to press home its demands on behalf of its members.

Letter of complaint

Earlier on Monday, leaders of 16 trade unions presented Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar with a letter complaining at the poor treatment her administration had been giving to the labour movement.

President of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU), Ancil Rougier, later told reporters that the unions had been seeking a meeting with the government to discuss a number of outstanding matters without success.

"That is the courtesy - or the lack of courtesy - extended to the country's trade union leaders who represent the country's workforce. I think it is a mark of serious disrespect," Rougier told reporters.

Dookeran told reporters that the salary increase being offered by the government amounted to more than the five per cent, given the various incentives and other benefits that were being negotiated in the new package, saying it amounted to "nine per cent at the lower income scale to six per cent at the higher level of the service".

Duke said that the workers would not be "protesting", but simply "highlighting an issue" that has escaped the government.

"Five per cent is a deficit for public officers when the rate of inflation amounts to some 34 per cent over the last three years."

- CMC