The wider trade union movement is threatening "sympathy strikes" in support of cement workers who reported to senior police officers that they were "intimidated, pushed, beaten and had guns placed at their throats," while engaged in legitimate strike action on the picket line at Trinidad Cement Ltd, Claxton Bay, on Tuesday evening. A video of the physical confrontation has been sent to media houses.
Both the Communications Workers Union and the Banking and General Workers Union condemned reports of unnecessary excessive force used by the police and called on Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs to investigate. Acting president of the Oilfields Workers' Trade Union (OWTU), Carlton Gibson, who is expected to meet with ACP (Southern Division) Fitzroy Fredericks to discuss the issue, said they saw this "as an act of war by the TCL management."
Fredericks said: "Mr Gibson spoke to me and we would be investigating the matter...I was told about that today (Wednesday) and I will await a report." He said concerns about heavily-armed police officers would also be discussed in his meeting with the OWTU. At the strike camp yesterday, Gibson expressed disappointment "that the state police would allow themselves to be used as hired guns to break our strike," when the company had its own private security.
While recognising that the police had their job to do, he vowed: "They would not break our strike...They can beat us, they can assault us, our striking spirit would remain. "They don't have enough police, they don't have enough guns, they don't have enough licks," he said. "Nothing they can do can stop us from continuing our legal struggles."
Gibson said that around 4 pm on Tuesday, workers were outside the gate walking around and singing when the police exited the compound with a vehicle transporting some corporate workers. "The police pushed, shoved, beat, cracked their guns and threatened workers outside of the gate," he said. "We are really, really surprised, because we have a good relationship with the police.
"They have their job to do to ensure peace on the picket line...But our job is to stay out here for 90 days and ensure nobody goes to our workplace to bring any threat to our workplace. "When the strike ends, we want to ensure that we have a safe working place, and any vehicle going in there, we need to communicate, and anyone we do not recognise we need to ask who are you, we know our rights."
Laurence Renaud, TCL branch president denied charges that striking workers were intimidating their colleagues who opted to go to work when the incident occurred. "The police ran into the crowd and they just started to push workers onto the vehicles. "They pull out their guns, crack it, put it in their throats and threatened some of the workers...They were threatening to shoot some of these workers."
Renaud said a police sergeant admitted, that "the police did use excessive force and they should not have done that, but that done happen already, let us forget that and let us put that behind our backs and let us move on." He said they did as was suggested, but "this morning the same set of police were here and more." Police barricades were also set up along the roadway leading to gate of the compound.
Around noon, more than two dozen officers, both male and female, formed a human barricade across the main road, separating the company and the jetty, to prevent workers from stopping the offloading of gypsum from a barge docked there. "It would cost the company US$7,000 demurrage, every day that barge stays on the jetty," Renaud explained, pointing out that gypsum was a crucial part of the cement-making process. Renaud said the ball was in the company's court to indicate to the union and the Minister of Labour that they were willing to move to double digits and have the negotiations settled.
Talks broke down between the union and the company on February 23 over wages and salary for workers in five bargaining units at TCL and Trinidad Packaging Limited. TCL has said that while they do not want a prolonged strike, their salaries were among the best in the country.
