Ot­to Car­ring­ton

Se­nior Re­porter

ot­to.car­ring­ton@cnc3.co.tt

The gen­er­al sec­re­tary of the Na­tion­al Trade Union Cen­tre says work­ers have been pay­ing the price for mis­man­age­ment and cor­rup­tion.

Speak­ing dur­ing a live in­ter­view on CNC3’s Morn­ing Brew yes­ter­day, how­ev­er, Michael An­nisette warned Gov­ern­ment that if it did not ho­n­our its promise of a ten per cent wage in­crease for pub­lic ser­vants, the labour move­ment may have no choice but to es­ca­late its ac­tions.

“Let us sit down bi­par­tite­ly. Let us have the so­cial di­a­logue so that we could find a so­lu­tion,” he urged, call­ing for mean­ing­ful en­gage­ment be­tween the state and labour rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

An­nisette em­pha­sised that the unions are not seek­ing con­fronta­tion, but said the con­tin­ued de­lays are un­ac­cept­able—es­pe­cial­ly in the face of ris­ing costs and stag­nant salaries.

“You can­not tell me that I am work­ing in 2025 and be­ing paid on a 2014 salary. I was in the mar­ket. I was in the gro­cery. Peo­ple are strug­gling,” he said.

De­spite trade unions play­ing a vis­i­ble role in sup­port­ing the cur­rent ad­min­is­tra­tion dur­ing the 2025 Gen­er­al Elec­tion, An­nisette re­vealed there have been no pre-bud­get con­sul­ta­tions with labour lead­ers.

“You can­not con­tin­ue to make the work­ing class suf­fer. This can’t be a top-down ap­proach,” he said.

He said the labour move­ment is ready to be part of the so­lu­tion—but on­ly if the Gov­ern­ment is will­ing to en­gage in good-faith ne­go­ti­a­tions.

“If ig­nored, the unions will act,” he warned.

Ear­li­er this week, Fi­nance Min­is­ter Dave Tan­coo could give Guardian Me­dia no clear com­mit­ment on whether the promised ten per cent salary in­crease would be in­clud­ed in the up­com­ing na­tion­al bud­get. Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so said the Gov­ern­ment was look­ing for the mon­ey to keep their promise to the pub­lic ser­vants.

The vague re­sponse has on­ly height­ened frus­tra­tion among work­ers and union lead­ers, who say pub­lic ser­vants can­not en­dure an­oth­er year of eco­nom­ic stag­na­tion.

An­nisette said work­ers are reach­ing a break­ing point—not on­ly over wages, but al­so over the broad­er pat­tern of be­ing ex­clud­ed from na­tion­al de­ci­sion-mak­ing.

“Faith is im­por­tant, but bud­gets aren’t based on be­lief. They’re based on math,” An­nisette said, quot­ing a for­mer PSA gen­er­al sec­re­tary.

With the na­tion­al bud­get fast ap­proach­ing and no clear sig­nals from the Gov­ern­ment, An­nisette said the ball is now firm­ly in the ad­min­is­tra­tion’s court.

“If this coun­try is se­ri­ous about de­vel­op­ment, we need to put peo­ple at the cen­tre—not just num­bers.”