Trade union lead­ers have de­scribed the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress’ (UNC) Gen­er­al Elec­tion vic­to­ry as a “new day” for work­ers. How­ev­er, they are al­so mak­ing it clear the time for words has passed and ac­tion must be­gin im­me­di­ate­ly.

The Sea­men and Wa­ter­front Work­ers’ Trade Union (SWW­TU), the Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Work­ers’ Union (CWU), and the Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) were care­ful­ly mon­i­tor­ing the promis­es on the cam­paign trail. PSA pres­i­dent Fe­l­isha Thomas mean­while mount­ed the UNC’s po­lit­i­cal plat­form dur­ing its cam­paign and spoke about salary ne­go­ti­a­tion, which she vowed would start at ten per cent should the par­ty win.

With the UNC now prepar­ing to take of­fice, union lead­ers are urg­ing im­me­di­ate im­ple­men­ta­tion of cam­paign promis­es.

SWW­TU pres­i­dent gen­er­al Michael An­nisette did not mince words in his crit­i­cism of the out­go­ing Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) ad­min­is­tra­tion. The union had led port work­ers in protest from last year over salary ne­go­ti­a­tions.

“When the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment came in­to pow­er in 2015, they picked a fight with the SWW­TU and with work­ers in gen­er­al,” he claimed.

“They tried to mar­gin­alise and un­der­mine the trade union move­ment. This elec­tion re­sult is the cul­mi­na­tion of years of frus­tra­tion.”

An­nisette de­scribed the wage of­fer made to pub­lic sec­tor work­ers dur­ing the PNM’s term as “dis­grace­ful and in­sen­si­tive.”

“Ze­ro-ze­ro-two, that was the of­fer to work­ers. Mean­while, the (then) prime min­is­ter and Cab­i­net ac­cept­ed a 47 per cent in­crease for them­selves. That told us every­thing we need­ed to know about their pri­or­i­ties.”

He be­lieves the UNC’s win was a clear mes­sage from work­ers.

“They used their fin­gers through the de­mo­c­ra­t­ic process to say enough is enough.”

He, how­ev­er, cau­tioned the new gov­ern­ment.

“The labour move­ment will be watch­ing every step. Change was in­evitable. We are now in the cos­mic age of Aquar­ius, and that means trans­for­ma­tion, not just in To­ba­go or Trinidad, but across every sphere of pow­er.”

CWU sec­re­tary gen­er­al Joanne Ogeer point­ed out that while her union did not en­dorse any po­lit­i­cal par­ty, the out­come of the elec­tion clear­ly sig­nalled pub­lic dis­con­tent.

“What we saw on April 28 was democ­ra­cy in mo­tion. The peo­ple re­ject­ed ne­glect, abuse, and the com­plete dis­missal of work­ers’ rights un­der the pre­vi­ous regime,” she said.

Ogeer said while the UNC’s labour promis­es were well re­ceived, unions are now look­ing for clear ac­tion.

“We ex­pect trans­paren­cy and de­liv­ery. We need clar­i­ty on the ten per cent wage pro­pos­al. Was it for one col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing pe­ri­od or two? These are the de­tails we ex­pect to be laid out quick­ly,” she said.

She added that while the CWU is ready to work with the new gov­ern­ment, the union re­mained vig­i­lant.

“We are al­so pre­pared to con­front any ad­min­is­tra­tion that fails to re­spect the rights and dig­ni­ty of work­ers.”

Con­grat­u­lat­ing the Prime Min­is­ter-elect, Ogeer not­ed, “We wish her well, but we will hold her and her Cab­i­net ac­count­able. The peo­ple will de­mand it.”

For PSA pres­i­dent Thomas, who led her union in for­mal­ly en­dors­ing the UNC, the elec­tion re­sult af­firmed the stance they took months ago.

“We are elat­ed,” Thomas said.

“The PSA is ready to work with the new lead­er­ship. Our first or­der of busi­ness is to be­gin ne­go­ti­a­tions and ad­vance the UNC’s work­ers’ agen­da. This is a new day for work­ers, but it must be matched with new ac­tion.”

When asked about UNC’s promis­es be­com­ing a re­al­i­ty, she was con­fi­dent.

“Part of the rea­son we felt com­fort­ed in sup­port­ing them is be­cause of their track record. These are not far-fetched promis­es, they are com­mit­ments ground­ed in ac­tion we’ve seen be­fore.”

Thomas al­so dis­missed the no­tion that the UNC’s pro­pos­als were un­af­ford­able.

“It’s not about af­ford­abil­i­ty, it’s about pri­or­i­ty. The last gov­ern­ment sim­ply did not pri­ori­tise work­ers. The UNC has made that com­mit­ment, and their his­to­ry shows they’ve ho­n­oured it be­fore.”

May Day cel­e­bra­tion

Trade union lead­ers say to­day’s May Day (May 1) will be a day of cel­e­bra­tion and tri­umph.

“Vic­to­ry and cel­e­bra­tion are the themes of this year’s May Day,” de­clared Ozzi War­wick, Joint Trade Union Move­ment (JTUM) gen­er­al sec­re­tary, in the wake of the elec­tion.

“Labour has once again proven it­self to be im­por­tant, crit­i­cal, rel­e­vant, strong, and pow­er­ful.”

War­wick cred­it­ed the trade union move­ment’s uni­ty and ad­vo­ca­cy for its in­flu­ence on the elec­torate.

“For nine years, the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go en­dured gov­ern­ment poli­cies that put the one per cent over the rest of the peo­ple. But with these elec­tions, labour stepped out and played a crit­i­cal role in en­sur­ing that there is a new dis­pen­sa­tion. There are new op­por­tu­ni­ties—and the peo­ple, par­tic­u­lar­ly work­ers—can fi­nal­ly breathe a sigh of re­lief,” he said.

This year’s May Day ac­tiv­i­ties will fol­low tra­di­tion, with a march from the OW­TU’s Para­mount Build­ing through San Fer­nan­do to Har­ris Prom­e­nade, where a ral­ly will be held.

War­wick con­firmed it will be more than a rou­tine event.