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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