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  • 2 years ago
Trade Unions have been taken to task by Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, who has in essence called them weak.


The Historian and University Lecturer believes what is taking place on the labour front in relation to negotiations is disrespectful, and he calls on the labour movement to do better.


Alicia Boucher has more in this report.

Transcript
00:00Have we progressed in 2024? The question from historian and lecturer Dr. Jerome
00:06Teloxing, who says at present people are still facing the same issues they were
00:10in the days of Adrian Kolarienzi, who fought for labor rights. These include
00:15deplorable living conditions, poor housing and low wages, added to perennial
00:19problems like flooding. The breaches of the OSH Act cannot be tolerated. It's
00:26unforgivable. Dr. Teloxing references the deaths of the four LMCS divers at
00:33birth, six of the Paria Fuel Trading Company, and WASA worker Koen Etienne,
00:37who died when a mound of dirt came down on him in a trench. And I'm very glad to
00:42see that the MP Rudi Narsingh, along with the PSA, is demanding the firing of the
00:47WASA board. Dr. Teloxing says apart from an ever-widening gap between the rich
00:53and the poor in this country, people are forced to contend with rampant crime. He
00:58doesn't believe the labor movement has taken enough interest in reacting to
01:02this and other issues, including child abuse. The trade unions must not only be
01:08interested in their members, they must be the voice of the people. Dealing with
01:15negotiations, Dr. Teloxing is opposed to offers made by the Chief Personal
01:19Officer to workers, as he says trade unions are left like dogs begging for
01:24scraps. How could a country so wealthy go and insult the trade unionists and want
01:32to give them 0%, 0%, 2%? So what is seen? Your labor is worth 0%? No, no, no, no,
01:40that is not a fair labor practice. That is disrespect. That is plain disrespect.
01:47You see, any time somebody offer me 0%, I don't want to be on any
01:52trapezoid committee, you know. I don't want to be aligned with any government
01:56and giving me 0%, you know. The lecturer calls for an improvement in
02:01collective bargaining in the country, noting that there are no fallouts for
02:05companies that, despite making profits, fail to settle collective agreements. He
02:11also calls on the labor movement for the formation of a special union to
02:15represent contract workers, some of whom he states are being seriously exploited.
02:19If Rienzi was alive, and if Butler was alive, you know what he would be asking?
02:27Why is the ILO, why is the Caribbean Labor Congress, and why are trade unions,
02:33some of them in Trinidad and Tobago, not militant and radical again? Where is the
02:40militancy and the radicalism of the 1930s and 1940s? Let me tell you
02:48something. You have to earn your respect from the government, you know. He says
02:53both Rienzi and Butler pulled Indians and Africans together, and he warns
02:58against allowing race to split the working class, especially around election
03:03time. Once we are divided, there will be no protests, no riots, no revolutions.
03:08Dr. Tilak Singh was the feature speaker at the Adrian Kolar Rienzi Memorial
03:13Forum, which was spearheaded by Kiran Joseph Samaru, to reflect on past
03:18struggles and ventilate present issues with the aim of finding solutions.
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