Cabrera: Unions to mobilise as Govt bent on privatisation

Banking Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) president, Vincent Cabrera says trade unions have to act swiftly to stem the tide of oncoming privatisation at companies including Eximbank, T&T Mortgage Finance, First Citizens, Plipdeco and Petrotrin.

Cabrera said, “Trade unions are faced with oncoming privatisation. The State has advanced a policy based on private public partnership. We feel it is simply handing over resources which are now owned by the State to be owned by private enterprise. Regardless of the sector of the economy it seems as though the Government is hell-bent on privatisation.

“There was a strong view (at the February 19 meeting) that we need to do some strong mobilisation. We are going to get a threat of privatisation at First Citizens, TSTT, Home Mortgage and TTMF. We believe the Government should maintain their majority shareholdings.” Communication Workers’ Union president, Joseph Remy added, “There is a move afoot to merge the two (Home Mortgage, TTMF) and have it placed into private hands. They facilitate low-income earners.

“We strongly object to privatisation. We feel market forces would apply and we would have no control over what the interest rates are going to be. And as such it is going to be disadvantageous to the niche market.”