“[…] In Trinidad and Tobago, domestic workers include: housekeepers, cooks, cleaners, ironers, gardeners, handymen, watchmen, in private homes. They are hired by companies for their CEOs and others who are in high management positions to provide personal and household duties. Estimates indicate that there are 10,000 domestic workers in T&T. …
Read More »Dear Editor: Imbert sees unions in disarray, now he’s going for the jugular of the working class
“[…] The media cites Minister of Finance Colm Imbert as saying that public sector trade unions won’t be able to meet with the government around the bargaining table because of the state of the economy. No time frame is given. “This immediately affects those public sector workers who are near …
Read More »Dear Editor: Indiscipline begins at the top, PM shouldn’t ‘pick on’ public servants
“[…] The late Gordon Draper, MP for Port of Spain North/St Ann’s West was given leave of absence for almost an entire Parliamentary term to pursue private business. MP Maxie Cuffie fell ill early in his Parliamentary term, was hospitalised for much of it, and suffered no loss of income. …
Read More »NWU: Lock up employers who don’t pay NIS! DPP urged to investigate ‘criminality by employers’
“[…] Within recent times, several of the retrenched workers from The Myerson Company Limited have approached our Union for advice and representation. “In the process, they raised with us some concerns over their contributions to NIS—only to discover that no contributions were remitted to NIB for parts of 2018, none …
Read More »Roget accused of ‘inciting racial hatred’ against media; JTUM: It was ‘class critique’ not race
The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) today referred Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) leader Ancel Roget to the Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) for ‘racist remarks directed towards certain members of the media fraternity’ during a JTUM press conference at Paramount Building, San Fernando on 4 August. Roget, while …
Read More »Kangalee: Why capitalism is the new slavery; and emancipation revolution remains unfinished
“[…] The very prosperity that slavery brought to British capital was to eventually make slavery redundant. The capital accumulated throughout slavery led to investments in science, technology and engineering, created the industrial revolution, brought into being productive forces based on machinery, speeded up the process of proletarianisation of the British …
Read More »NWU: Covid-19 has not changed law for employees, despite what the ‘new normalisers’ say
“[…] Over the past few months the ‘new normalisers’ have been busy ‘new normalising’ by cutting pay, cutting hours, sometimes cutting pay AND hours at the same time, dismissing workers (sorry, letting associates go) and laying off ‘associates’ with no pay and restructuring…” The following column, which urges employees to …
Read More »NWU: Class struggle is exploding and unrest is coming; workers must pick a side
“[…] Public sector workers, including health care workers, teachers and public servants, have not had a wage increase since 2013. They have not even had the full retroactive payments due to them and owed to them for more than six years. “The widespread use of the contract system has turned …
Read More »NWU: Healthcare workers ready to rumble, outstanding arrears and staff shortages create tipping point
“[…] At the San Fernando General Hospital, the nurse to patient ratio is close to one nurse to twenty-two patients and this has been made worse since the advent of the Teaching Hospital. “Now the Covid situation has further depleted staff, as some medical personnel have been assigned to the …
Read More »Vidale: Will vulnerable jobs remain after pandemic? Could digitisation ‘recolonise’ our economy?
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the WTO was set to host its 12th ministerial from 8-11 June 2020, in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The negotiation would establish new trade rules for the new global digital economy. I want to focus on two key aspects of the impact of digitisation. First is the …
Read More »Noble: The poor are more vulnerable to Covid-19; who will help them?
The pictures of shoppers at a leading membership warehouse store that emerged on social media capture the social divide in our society. Those fortunate ones can go mid-morning to stock up whatever is needed to prepare for the eventualities while others are tied to their place of work and unable …
Read More »Demming: Why Patriotic Energies can be the game-changer for Trinidad and Tobago
The consummation of this deal with Patriotic Energies and Technologies Company Ltd (PETCL) might be the game-changer we have been looking for to change the work ethic of Trinidad and Tobago. But it will require a level of collaboration that we have not experienced in recent times. From one perspective, …
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