Some two hundred members of the Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) protested outside the offices of the ministers of Labour and Energy yesterday, charging that Government was not acting in the best interest of the country as there were definite plans to privatise State-owned Petrotrin. The angry workers, some journeying from far-flung areas of south Trinidad, gathered outside the Waterfront Complex in Port-of-Spain and also demanded the resignation of Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine. As Labour Minister Errol McLeod made his way at the front entrance, he was surrounded by several angry union members who accused him of neglecting workers.
McLeod, who maintained a wide smile, said he would not be intimated or manipulated by any trade union in the country. He added that his ministry continued to operate above board and in the interest of all workers, emphasising that he always kept an open door policy. "There is nothing about our wanting to hide anything I think they are looking for something to fight over," McLeod said. Asked if he believed that industrial relations had reached crisis proportions in the country the labour minister said, "It has been worse than this. I had worse times before." McLeod said he was fully prepared to meet with the OWTU last Friday as planned to discuss the issue of negotiations but an hour before the meeting the union indicated it could not attend.
He said he instead met with representatives of Petrotrin present to inform them that the conciliation process could not proceed in the absence of the OWTU. McLeod asserted that at no time did he initiate or attempt to initiate any conciliation talks with Petrotrin in the OWTU's absence. Leading the protest was OWTU's president general Ancel Roget who handed the Labour Minister a copy of a letter citing concerns and a copy of a report detailing a plan to maximise Petrotrin's crude oil production. "This report which was presented to the board last week clearly spells out the problems, the solutions and the empirical evidence that we have the ability to capacity to improve Petrotrin's crude oil production.
"We have a plan. We are not operating by guess," Roget added. Ramnarine however, received the brunt of the workers' ire as Roget said, "We have a Minister of Energy who is committing the assets of the people to privatisation which would only benefit their friends, family and political operatives. We have that Minister of Energy who is clearly pushing that programme and is clearly not acting in the interest of the people of Trinidad and Tobago." Roget said yesterday's demonstration was to ensure that the presence of the workers was felt.