Kali­fa Clyne

All unions have been in­vit­ed to May Day events in San Fer­nan­do to­mor­row, says pres­i­dent of the Bank­ing, In­sur­ance and Gen­er­al Work­ers Union (BIG­WU) Vin­cent Cabr­era. May Day, or In­ter­na­tion­al Work­ers' Day, com­mem­o­rates and cel­e­brates the strug­gles and vic­to­ries of the labour move­ment and is held an­nu­al­ly on May 1. Cabr­era said yes­ter­day the Joint Trade Union Move­ment (JTUM) had or­gan­ised this year's ac­tiv­i­ties.

"The main theme of this year will be an­ti-pri­vati­sa­tion. We have a new­ly-formed an­ti-pri­vati­sa­tion com­mit­tee and an an­ti-pri­vati­sa­tion pro­gramme will be launched soon," Cabr­era said.

The demon­stra­tion will be­gin at the Oil­fields Work­ers' Trade Union (OW­TU) head­quar­ters, San Fer­nan­do, and march through the city be­fore end­ing in a ral­ly on Har­ris Prom­e­nade.

All unions might have been in­vit­ed but Pub­lic Ser­vice As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) pres­i­dent Wat­son Duke yes­ter­day said his union had de­clined to take part.

"We will not be a part of that," Duke said in a tele­phone in­ter­view yes­ter­day. "We will not be tak­ing part vis­i­bly or ex­press­ing our views with re­gards to any demon­stra­tions."He said his fo­cus to­mor­row and every oth­er day would be on get­ting the best re­sults for pub­lic ser­vants."My fo­cus is on pub­lic-ser­vice job eval­u­a­tions and the 6,000 va­can­cies that are to be filled. When my tenure is re­viewed it will not be mea­sured against the num­ber of func­tions or events I at­tend but against the work done for PSA mem­bers," he added.