RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Threat­ened with im­pris­on­ment and de­cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, the Oil­fields Work­ers Trade Union Pres­i­dent Gen­er­al An­cel Ro­get is deny­ing that work­ers are tak­ing in­dus­tri­al ac­tion, as­sur­ing there will be a re­li­able sup­ply of elec­tric­i­ty for Christ­mas, once the Com­mis­sion pro­vides prop­er tools and equip­ment.

Speak­ing at a press con­fer­ence on Thurs­day (De­cem­ber 19, 2024), Ro­get said work­ers are not en­gaged in in­dus­tri­al ac­tion, yet the Com­mis­sion has been suc­cess­ful in get­ting an in­junc­tion which threat­ens the union with de­cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and jail for OW­TU ex­ec­u­tives should they de­fy it.

Out­lin­ing a range of con­cerns, OW­TU Vice Pres­i­dent Reesa Ram­lo­gan-Ajod­ha said the union has been high­light­ing HSE vi­o­la­tions which the pub­lic should know about.

She said garbage has been pil­ing up at the Dis­tri­b­u­tion Cen­tral in Point Lisas Gar­dens cre­at­ing a haven for ro­dents and snakes. Like Ro­get, she al­so de­nied work­ers were tak­ing in­dus­tri­al ac­tion.

Ram­lo­gan-Ajod­ha al­so al­leged that T&TEC was vi­o­lat­ing the col­lec­tive agree­ment as it re­lates to health and safe­ty.

"T&TEC field work­ers were be­ing forced to do over­time and work un­der per­ilous con­di­tions," she ex­plained.

Among the health and safe­ty is­sues the OW­TU ex­ec­u­tives raised were de­fec­tive trucks, de­fec­tive tools, in­ad­e­quate PPE, bul­ly­ing of work­ers to ex­e­cute jobs de­spite ex­pired per­mits, no train­ing and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion for lift truck op­er­a­tors, un­trained con­tract work­ers, cov­er­ing up of ac­ci­dents and a short­age of man­pow­er.

Guardian Me­dia has reached out to T&TEC, and we are await­ing a re­sponse from the Com­mis­sion on the health and safe­ty is­sues high­light­ed by the union.