TCL strike may go past 90-day limit

Striking workers at Trinidad Cement Ltd  (TCL) will stand their ground until the company decides to improve its terms and conditions of employment. Ancel Roget, president general of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), was addressing members of the media after a meeting with the Police Social and Welfare Association at the Transport and Industrial Workers Union (TIWU) compound on Eastern Main Road, Laventille yesterday. The strike began on February 27 and is expected to pass the 90-day mark.

 

 

“We remain on strike and effective strike, and despite what the management say, we continue to get reports of the shortage of cement which is created by the strike action,” Roget said. He said the union remained “always on standby” for word from Labour Minister Errol McLeod to bring a resolution to the matter. “But we are placing our hopes in that basket and that is why we are having an effective picket line,” Roget added. Responding to those who have branded the strike as affecting the country negatively, Roget insisted  the union had a “wealth” of experience relating to various industrial actions.

 

 

“At the end of the day it is the strength of the resolve of the workers, the sacrifice that they would make, the commitment to ensuring that their terms and conditions are improved,” Roget said. Saying he was sure of victory, he said it would also signal triumph for workers throughout the country. Roget also hailed the striking TCL employees, who he described as courageous for insisting on their rights. “The TCL worker is standing up and providing a voice for the voiceless worker, the exploited worker, the worker who works in unsafe and unhealthy conditions and they cannot raise a voice.”  It has been reported that mounting losses were caused by the strike, which has also affected the construction sector through a shortage of cement.