Members of the public have been warned there could be unexplained interruptions in the electricity supply if the Government does not move urgently to address issues of corruption and mismanagement at the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC).
Blasting Public Utilities Minister Ancil Antoine for his arrogance and incompetence, president of the Oilfields Workers' Trade Union (OWTU), Ancel Roget, yesterday promised they were "getting ready to rumble" due to the unfair and corrupt practices at the authority.
Standing in the rain as scores of T&TEC workers picketed the Ministry of Public Utilities, Elizabeth Street, Woodbrook, under the watchful eyes of heavily-armed police and members of the Special Branch, Roget called for Antoine to be removed as head of the ministry due to his incompetence and inability to address properly the issues affecting workers.
Addressing reporters, Roget said the workers were "infuriated" over Antoine's statements, inferring that they were not working and that contract labour was the way to go to improve T&TEC's operations.
Claiming it was these same workers that provided an essential service, Roget said: "The T&TEC worker provides power for the country, which is the same power the minister enjoys and, therefore, after putting their lives at risk to ensure reliability of this particular service to the country, for the minister to have made a statement like that which supports the corruption in T&TEC, because contract equals corruption, is disrespectful and contemptuous.
"For the minister to support contract work which violates the collective agreement and leaves the commission's employees idle while the contractors have a field day, we feel that it is a sort of support for continuing the corruption we know exists at T&TEC."
Urging Antoine to "get his act together," Roget insisted that he should be investigated in terms of his competence and qualification to lead the ministry and for his continued support of the system at T&TEC.
Surrounded by the OWTU second vice-president, Peter Burke, and president of the Industrial General and Sanitation Workers Union (IGSWU), Robert Benacia, Roget said:
"We provide lights for everybody and a source of power for the country and if the workers are being disrespected and their jobs are being threatened and supported by the minister saying contract labour is preferred instead of the workers, you can very well expect a lot of action."
He said payments had doubled as a result because permanent employees continued to collect a salary while contractors were also being paid to do the same job.
Roget added: "The contractors are not efficient or competent and are putting themselves and the public at risk when they are sent to do work that the trained workers are supposed to be performing.
"The workers then have to go back and correct the faults of the contractors and something is wrong with that equation."
Even as a uniformed police officer halted the media briefing demanding to speak to Roget and insisting on the workers dispersing, Roget said:
"We are about dealing with all of that and if we cannot work in the bright light, we will do it without the light."
The confrontation between the police and protestors simmered down following the intervention of a senior officer from the Woodbrook Police Station. who agreed the workers were not contravening the law as they were demonstrating in a peaceful manner and not obstructing the free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic.
Before joining the protestors, Roget repeated: "When you have a minister who has a preference for contract work rather than permanent and competent employees, what in fact will happen both by the workers reaction and allowing contract workers to do their jobs, he is not guaranteeing a reliable supply of electricity."
The OWTU head said the action would continue until immediate changes were made at T&TEC.
MINISTRY RESPONDS
Officials of the Ministry of Public Utilities yesterday said Roget had refused to participate in a general meeting with other union leaders at the ministry on Wednesday which had been convened to discuss the payment of arrears of salaries resulting from the collective bargaining negotiations for the period 2011 to 2013.
Present at the meeting were representatives from the Trinidad and Tobago Postal Workers Union (TTPWU); the Estate Police Association (EPA), representing workers from the National Maintenance, Training and Security Company Limited (MTS) and the Industrial General and Sanitation Workers Union (IGSW).
A release stated: "The Oilfields Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) was also invited to meet with the minister and the MPU executive but they did not attend. Calls to Mr Ancel Roget, president of the OWTU, went unanswered."
The ministry said the meetings were part of the ministry's ongoing effort to engage with the unions in an attempt to address industrial relations issues within the sector, thereby enabling a better quality of utility services for the broader national community.?