00:00According to workers, this is a washroom facility at Shed 3 at the port of Port of Spain.
00:10And these are mosquitoes, from what we're told, in infested parts of the port.
00:15President of the Seamen and Waterfront Workers Union Michael Anisar tells us concerns raised
00:20in a meeting with management on March 12 of this year included vehicles with missing lights,
00:26shabby mirrors and seats, poor lighting at the container terminal, no air-conditioning
00:31and other problems.
00:32And as I speak to you today, there is no substantial or material resolution to these issues.
00:42Shed 10, where we have the barrel shop, raw sewage leaking, that is a serious health hazard.
00:52The fire system alarm is not working, so if there's a fire, no alarm.
00:57According to the SWWT, workers are justified if they choose not to work under those conditions.
01:03And we don't do it, we continue.
01:08But the old saying, pressure does bust by, and the pipe busts.
01:14So when the pipe busts, you have to get a plumber now to fix it.
01:17In a letter to the union on October 7, the management of the Port Authority responded
01:22to a request from the SWWT for a meeting saying one will be scheduled when the port receives
01:29an assurance from the trade union that there will be a discontinuation of the actions that
01:34are disrupting operations and the restoration of normal levels of attendance and productivity.
01:40The port management cited that workers, as of last week, have been failing to take up
01:46duties causing a severe hampering of operations.
01:49Well, a day later, a long line of trucks was observed on Ryerson Road, waiting to enter
01:55the port.
01:56This in turn caused traffic in the area.
01:59Anasat says he's uncertain about the reason for that, further suggesting that it's a question
02:04for the port's management.
02:05However, the port has issued another notice dated October 8, once again highlighting that
02:11its operations have been severely hampered by what it referred to as, quote, unquote,
02:16the continued disruptive actions of workers.
02:19The port further instructed that workers report for duty at 12 noon, saying, quote, of primary
02:25concern at this time is the fact that roll on roll off vessel Asian Trust, which arrived
02:30and berthed on 2024, October 6th, has been negatively impacted and delayed due to the
02:36unavailability of labor to offload vehicles destined for Trinidad.
02:41The vessel is expected to arrive at its next port of call tomorrow based on its pre-planned
02:46schedule.
02:47Accordingly, it is imperative that the Asian Trust offload today, which marks the second
02:52day of unproductive work for the vessel.
02:56End quote.
02:57How do I tell a worker, and I say that to the general public, worker, go back to work
03:03when pigeon drops are in the shed.
03:07How do I tell a worker to go and drive a tractor truck when there's no AC, there's
03:12no refumera glass for him to look back to?
03:16And the SWWTU has a message for the Port Authority.
03:20What I will tell the management, from my experience, is that rather than put a gun on conditionality
03:30for the return of normalcy, right, that we try and meet and have discussions in order
03:39to demonstrate in a tangible way that there is a commitment.
03:44Anasat says that must be followed up with implementation of the decisions made previously.
03:50The Port Authority subsequently issued a notice to stakeholders, informing them that as at
03:563 p.m., operations continued to be affected due to a reduction in labor.
04:01It stated that there were no operations at a container vessel operations and container
04:06terminal operations used for the receipt and delivery of containers.
04:12Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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