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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