DOMA WANTS MEETING WITH ANNISETTE

CCNTV6

Large sums of forex are just sitting on the Port, while the country's economy suffers. It's the lamentation of the Head of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association, Gregory Aboud, who is now calling on SWWTU President Michael Annisette, to meet with the business community. Rynessa Cutting reports.

Transcript

00:00sums of forex are just sitting on the port while the country's economy suffers

00:05it's the lamentation of the head of the downtown owners and merchants association gregory abood

00:10who's now calling on the swwtu president michael anasat to meet with the business community

00:17larnessa cutting reports with natak and the swwtu voicing this pleasure over what they deemed

00:25a deeply biased to one-sided statement from the chambers of commerce

00:29doma head gregory abood is now calling for a meeting with michael anasat

00:34head of the seaman and waterfront workers trade union which represents port workers

00:38i'm deeply hopeful and i'm making a personal plea to mr anis said we are willing and open

00:44to meet with you we are willing and open to have frank discussions and we want to let you know

00:49that our side of the story is not selfish and seeking of our bottom line but we are keeping

00:55a keen eye on the overall impact on trinidad and tobago on wednesday amcham tt the energy chamber

01:02the chamber of industry and commerce and the manufacturers association urged government to

01:08take whatever action necessary to resolve the impasse on the port of port of spain the domo

01:14president also laments that trinidad and tobago's economy is suffering as a result of the

01:19dispute and notes that the situation is further compounded by the forex challenges and we are

01:26damaging our export trade there are hundreds of containers of gold of trinidad every week

01:33to export destinations in the region that is being affected at a time when foreign exchange is the

01:39number one topic on everybody's lips foreign exchange is sitting waiting to be earned because

01:46cannot go out i would ask mr anisette and his team to reconsider their situation

01:53to accept that we are in a very serious position and to vary somewhat his plan of action

02:02not to damage the country as badly as being damaged right now asked to comment on the timing of the

02:07port wiggler's actions given that christmas and carnival are approaching abood summed it up this

02:13way in the same way that the unions characterize the business community as self-centered and

02:23self-seeking and so on i would say that it is fair comment on the question of the timing to say that

02:29the national community is all rolling their eyes at this timing is all saying that we are being

02:37placed under pressure because this is the time when we feel pressure the most and i would like

02:42to suggest that that would be one of the things we would discuss with mr anisette is that the

02:46timing casts the wrong impression about the true nature of his complaint and gives the mistaken

02:54impression that it has been chosen just to put us under even greater pressure than we would have

03:00been at any other time of year renessa cutting tv6 news tonight sww to your president michael

03:08anisette tells tv6 he's more than willing to meet with a business community

03:15seaman's union is open to talk into any one of them they could call a meeting weekend saturday

03:20sunday whatever time we are willing to come and sit down and and and let us move forward because

03:27the port is suffering even people of the islands said says while some people may be of the view

03:36that the union and the port workers are holding the country to ransom that's not the case in fact

03:42he says the union supports measures to save the port authority millions of dollars but he claims

03:48the government refuses to implement measures because it would include signing off on a 12

03:54wage increase for workers if they implement right the framework agreement you know as i speak to you

04:03the port would have saved over 100 million dollars from arm 2015 to the present point

04:11and then do you know that overtime has escalated that it is a little more than 60 percent

04:17of the wage bill 60 percent because we still work in saturday and sunday and public holidays and

04:24paying it at overtime rates it is obvious that the this government doesn't want to implement the 12

04:31percent or the framework agreement because it means that you have to implement it one percent

04:40the t6 people meter brought to you by excel health tt the official supplements of the cps

04:48now to our people meter we ask do you see an end to the chaos on the ports of port of spain

04:55and scarborough anytime soon to vote text yes or no to the number 766-4886

05:02or 766 for tv6 and we'll have the results for you at the end of the newscast

05:11well

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