Regional Health Authority (RHA) nurses and other workers from across the country yesterday defied heavy lunchtime showers and the presence of police officers from the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) during a two-hour placard demonstration outside Parliament, demanding payment of outstanding arrears amounting to several millions of dollars.
"Look at police," a plain clothes officer said as the heavily armed reinforcements arrived around 12.30 pm to ensure nothing untoward occurred.
The arrears were due following completion of negotiations for a new collective agreement for the workers in 2015.
The former People's Partnership government promised to pay the money after the September 7, 2015, elections but it was defeated at the polls. The new People's National Movement Government had promised to pay it by the end of this month, although Finance Minister Colm Imbert had noted it would be a challenge due to the low level of the Treasury and the current economic climate.
At least three senior Cabinet Ministers greeted the protestors before they entered the Parliament for yesterday's debate on a private motion brought by Chief Whip Ganga Singh to debate a loss of confidence in Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi.
Answers promised
After greeting the scores of protestors, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh told reporters he was not aware of claims of any work-to-rule at the nations' hospitals yesterday.
"The health care system continues to operate at full capacity," he said. Questioned about the protest action, Deyalsingh said: "This is democracy at work. They have a legitimate need." The workers chanted anti-Colm Imbert lines in the melody of new local hit song Sonita. They also chanted: "Don't get sick" and "We want we money now."
One protestor, waving a dollar, said, "After this dollar is salt."
After being commended by the protestors for approaching them, Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis said she was sure Imbert would say something further on how the arrears would be paid out. She then told the protestors: "Don't get over anxious. It will be done (paid). We gave the undertaking and it will be done." The protestors asked when would it be paid, to which she responded: "Don't ask me when. Minister Imbert has given an undertaking and it will be fulfilled once everything is in place."
Empty Treasury
In seeking to clarify that, Robinson-Regis said there were some things the human resources departments must have in place that had not been done as yet.
Also questioned by reporters, Al-Rawi said the protest was "a direct consequence of leaving the Treasury empty, backpay could not be paid from nothing." He said measures had to be put in place for such payments to be effected, adding that actions of the former government "bankrupted T&T and left the overdraft at absolute top (max). People must come out and protest." He said the PNM Government must find a solution to the problem, but added, "This is democracy at work and I will make no complaint to people demonstrating as they do now.
"This is what our country has purchased and I share the concerns of the people who are standing on the pavement here today, as I did yesterday, in wanting to know where we stand as a country."
Al-Rawi said Imbert "has worked out a mechanism, we have settled the economy considerably from the position we obtained and we will just have to deal with it. That is our job."
On the motion of no-confidence that was to be debated against him, Al-Rawi said he considered it a non-event, "Clearly T&T has a lot of issues gripping it, (including) criminality, backpay, arrears, the financial situation."
Clico policyholders had also planned a protest demonstration but only a few of them turned up yesterday and they were swallowed up by the major public servant protest.
Alternative option offered by Duke
Public Services Association president Watson Duke said yesterday's protest outside Parliament was mounted because the workers were concerned about the payment of the arrears.
He said since 2015 under the then PP government the workers have been awaiting payment of the arrears, but up to yesterday it had not been honoured.
He said the last promise to pay the money by June 30 had not materialised as "all the (June) pay sheets have been audited and we have been told that no money is given to the RHAs to deal with this issue."
Duke said this development was worrisome, adding that while the workers understood there were challenges for the Government there was also a need for dialogue.
He said the union was calling on Finance Minister Colm Imbert "to come and talk to us. Let us engage in dialogue."
Duke told reporters: "We are saying if they can't give us all the money, treat with us as they treated Venezuela."
He spoke of the recent agreement between the two countries for T&T to supply food stuff to the South American nation.
According to Duke, the Government should make an arrangement where the commercial banks in T&T can give the workers the money as a loan and the Government would repay the loan. He said the Government should provide the workers with letters stating how much arrears they are being owed to take to their bank of choice for the loans.
"We want that. How sad it is when the neighbour dog is getting better treatment than the dog in your house," Duke said in an obvious reference to the Venezuela agreement.
He said the PSA wrote 13 letters to Imbert and called him at least 25 times on the arrears issue with no response.
The T&T Registered Nurses Association (TTRNA) and the PSA, which previously were at odds, said they were joining hands in support of the resolution of the arrears issue.
From noon, Duke and TTRNA vice president Kern Ramnath joined hands in support of the affected workers in demanding resolution of the issue.
When it ended around 2 pm, Duke said a bigger protest would take place next week.