RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

May Day ob­ser­vances kicked off in San Fer­nan­do to­day, with labour lead­ers call­ing for an end to work­er ex­ploita­tion.

The theme “Peo­ple Cen­tred, Peo­ple Mat­ter” echoed from the Oil­field Work­ers Trade Union's head­quar­ters at Cir­cu­lar Road.

De­spite be­ing held on a Mon­day, at­ten­dance was on par with last year's cel­e­bra­tions.

Pres­i­dent Gen­er­al of the OW­TU, An­cel Ro­get, called on work­ers every­where to re­mem­ber the sig­nif­i­cance of the day.

Sev­er­al labour lead­ers spoke be­fore the start of the march.

Among them was pres­i­dent of the Fire Ser­vice As­so­ci­a­tion, Leo Ramkissoon, who spoke about the con­tin­ued ex­ploita­tion of fire­fight­ers. He said the TTFS con­tin­ues to be plagued by lack of re­sources.

"Fire­fight­ers are spend­ing mon­ey from their own pock­ets to serve the pub­lic. Of­fi­cers are still work­ing for salaries from 2013 and there is a stale­mate of four per­cent, which we will not ac­cept," he added.

"There seems to be hope­less­ness in this coun­try and a lack of faith in every in­sti­tu­tion," he added.

Pres­i­dent of the Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Work­ers Union, Clyde El­der, point­ed to the fact that many work­ers were still fac­ing is­sues of sex­u­al ha­rass­ment.

"I'm not speak­ing to the PNM til ah dead syco­phants. Your par­ty is killing you and you still for them. The UNC is not the an­swer. If we have a po­lit­i­cal ve­hi­cle that is work­ing for us, why not join? Sup­port the MSJ!" El­der said to loud ap­plause.

He lament­ed that the per­pe­tra­tors of the bomb scare still have not been found.

"We have no new labour laws; no sex­u­al ha­rass­ment laws to pro­tect our women. This is un­ac­cept­able," he added.

And the pres­i­dent of the T&T Uni­fied Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA), Mar­tin Lum Kin, spoke about the ex­ploita­tion of sub­sti­tute teach­ers, some of whom he said have not been paid for the year. He said even though the sub­sti­tute teach­ers are not mem­bers, TTUTA will of­fer ad­vice.

He not­ed that the sub­sti­tute teacher ser­vice should not be a par­al­lel re­cruit­ment ser­vice to the Teach­ing Ser­vice Com­mis­sion.

Twen­ty trade unions were part of the 2023 May Day cel­e­bra­tions.