“[…] What do the employers and the one percent want? The objective is to maximise their profits by minimising their labour costs; by demoralising their workforce through retrenchment, wage suppression and the cutting back of hard-won benefits. “[…] Ninety percent or more of the matters that are decided in the Industrial …
Read More »Dear Editor: The judiciary doth protest too much! This is T&T—we all know what’s going on
“[…] As the calypsonian Luta said: ‘the system works for the rich, it holds no hope for the poor’. So miss we with talk about ‘bulwark of democracy’, ‘separation of powers’ and ‘sanctity of the process’. “[…] Are we to expect the Customs, Immigration, Police and parliamentarians to follow the …
Read More »Dear editor: Gobar! How will raising minimum wage cause inflation, when it’s already here?!
“The Minister of Tourism, Randall Mitchell, has said that increasing the minimum wage will cause inflation… This is a ton load of gobar. “We are presently suffering from the highest inflation rate since the turn of the century. Is it caused by increasing the money supply? Or is it because …
Read More »Kangalee: Gov’t bamboozling nurses with bonus while they suffer on short-term rollover contracts
“[…] Many [health care workers] are working under short term contracts—some as short as three months—[and] have been subjected to continual rollovers of their short term contracts and who have been employed continuously for 15 years and more. “[…] Instead of abolishing the short term-rollover contract system, coming up with …
Read More »Kangalee: Why Private Security Industry Bill will cement exploitation of workers—and why you should care
“[…] One year later, the 1995 minimum wage order removed the provisions for sick leave, vacation leave and the provision of uniforms that the 1994 order contained [for security workers]. “[…] Due to this removal, security companies are denying their employees the benefits of sick leave and vacation leave that …
Read More »Kangalee: Claim that workers can sacrifice wage increases for job security is a ‘Nansi story’!
“[…] During the Petrotrin shutdown saga, the OWTU actually offered to take a 15% wage cut in order to save jobs. The result? All, all, all workers were sent home. “The Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) settled with TSTT for 5% over a five-year period 2014–2019. How many jobs were saved? …
Read More »Kangalee: Workers must take unions back from ‘mocking pretenders’ posing as leaders
“[…] The leadership of the labour movement has lost credibility and trade union leaders are being seen as ‘smartmen’, confidence tricksters and hustlers along the lines of insurance agents, lawyers, bankers, policemen, politicians and priests. “[…] If we are to defend ourselves, as workers, against the renewed attacks from the …
Read More »Kangalee: What ESOP offer? Dr Rowley offered ‘ghost shares’ to ‘ghost workers’ at Heritage
“[…] Heritage is not a publicly traded company, so how can shares be offered to employees? The share offering Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley referred to with FCB is different, in that FCB is traded on the stock exchange. “Even if Heritage was a publicly traded company, there is no …
Read More »Dear Editor: Doesn’t NIB chairman’s appointment violate NIS Act? Whose side is Govt really on?
“Patrick Ferreira has been appointed chairman of the National Insurance Board [despite being] chairman of Furness Chemicals Ltd, Furness Shipping & Marketing Ltd and Furness Personnel Services Ltd [and] CEO of Furness Rentals Ltd, Furness Properties Ltd and Furness Investments Ltd. “[…] Do you think that this business tycoon is …
Read More »Kangalee: Dr Rowley’s bluff has failed, and he’s struggling to hold off dissent in his own party
“[…] Pushing his deadline back to 17 February in the hope that his under-fire Attorney General comes up with some legislative arrangement that could pass muster won’t change the price of coconut water. It gives the forces opposed to his policy more time to mobilise. “[…] Most importantly, though, …
Read More »NWU: Remove RHAs’ horrendous contract system; end master-and-servant syndrome
“[…] Short-term contract labour has been in widespread use throughout the Regional Health Authorities in Trinidad and Tobago ever since the establishment of the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) in the 1990s… Short-term contract workers obviously suffer anxiety over their job security and are at a disadvantage when it comes to …
Read More »Kangalee: The AG is out of his depth and betraying his ignorance of industrial relations
“[…] In Faris Al-Rawi’s upside-down world, a worker is sent home by an employer in an effort to coerce the worker into accepting the employer’s terms and conditions; and if the worker does not accept, she is deemed to have abandoned the job or been dismissed. “In actual practice, if …
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