00:07Trade unions took to the streets of San Fernando, many of their leaders calling for continued
00:12solidarity among the movement in the labor fight.
00:15United we stand, divided we fall. With that being said, I want to highlight that the two
00:22major organizations represented by my union are close to finalizing wages, negotiations for two
00:30collective bargaining peers, that is NMTS and PTSC.
00:36This year's Mayday celebrations took place under the theme Advancing the Workers' Agenda.
00:42Addressing the crowd at Harris Promenade, leader of the joint trade union movement, Ansel Roge,
00:46says her request was made to meet with Labor Minister Leroy Batiste to treat with the trade
00:51unions, which rejected the PNM's 4% offer.
00:54I have informed this morning that such a meeting has been confirmed for the 13th of May.
01:03I can't today, comrades, give you a timeline, but I can assure you that every single outstanding
01:10negotiations would be settled in the interest of justice.
01:15Roge refers to the retrenchment and severance benefit act amendment bill as being
01:21important to the progress being made. He states that when companies wind up, workers who labored
01:26are not seen as priority shifts to shareholders, and the plan is to change that.
01:32It will require amendment to three other pieces of legislation, the bankruptcy and insolvency,
01:39the central bank act, and the companies act. And so don't believe for one moment, do not believe
01:48for one moment that what? That these people are happier though. They are still fighting
01:53against it. They'll get great pushback.
01:56As he calls on the labor movement to ensure that the opposition does not return to power,
02:00Oroge makes this remark on the refinery.
02:03Stand firm. Stand strong. We are this close. We are this close to achieving the open back of
02:10the refinery. We are very close.
02:12The Postal Workers Trade Union says there was oppression under the former administration.
02:18We have left the fight to another day. We will flip on, and we have certainly left and chased
02:25those crazy ballers out of the town.
02:28And there is praise for members of the trade union, namely, Labor Minister Leroy Batiste,
02:34Point 14 MP Ernesto Queza, and Labre MP Clyde Elder, who have transitioned to the parliament
02:41under the UNC government.
02:42We have a responsibility to make Mayday going forward to be something that we'd be proud
02:48of. We have started in 2024. In less than two years, we have two seats. And by the next
02:55election, we're supposed to have more seats.
02:59But words of caution from the movement for social justice.
03:03That the trade union movement and the working class must not allow themselves to be divided
03:10by party politics.
03:12Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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