Yvonne Webb

The Oil­fields Work­ers' Trade Union (OW­TU) has called on Pres­i­dent George Maxwell Richards to im­me­di­ate­ly re­voke the ap­point­ment of In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor Michael An­nisette.

The union's pres­i­dent gen­er­al An­cel Ro­get said yes­ter­day An­nisette, who re­port­ed­ly sits on six State boards, in­clud­ing Nipdec, which he is ex­pect­ed to chair in light of the res­ig­na­tion of chair­man Calder Hart, could not be con­sid­ered in­de­pen­dent. "He must be im­me­di­ate­ly re­moved from his po­si­tion as an In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor," Ro­get said. Ro­get has con­tin­u­ous­ly crit­i­cised An­nisette's de­fence and sup­port for Ude­cott.

He said An­nisette's reg­u­lar pub­lic de­c­la­ra­tions of un­equiv­o­cal sup­port for Ude­cott and Calder Hart, both in the Sen­ate and else­where, has com­pro­mised pub­lic con­fi­dence in his in­de­pen­dence as an In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor. An­nisette, who is al­so head of the Na­tion­al Trade Union Cen­tre (Natuc), was ap­point­ed to rep­re­sent labour in the Sen­ate. Ro­get said An­nisette's con­dem­na­tion of le­git­i­mate protest ac­tion by work­ers in strug­gles for job se­cu­ri­ty, led by the Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA), meant his rep­re­sen­ta­tion in the Sen­ate was def­i­nite­ly not in the in­ter­est of labour. Since Hart's res­ig­na­tion from Ude­cott and four oth­er boards on Sat­ur­day, An­nisette has de­fend­ed his right to re­main on the board of Ude­cott.