T&T national strike fails: Report

Latest reports from Port of Spain say the general shutdown expected Monday has failed.

The group People's Democracy, a coalition of dozens of trade unions and interest groups, had asked people to stay home Monday and Tuesday, as a mark of protest against the government.

A rally Sunday in support of the general strike had failed to attrack the masses, without only a few hundred attending.

Some reports from Trinidad early Monday indicated that the national strike was effective in parts of Trinidad.

Activist and journalist Clive Nunez, reporting from Couva Monday morning, said the normally bustling town looked like a ghost town, with no children going to school and few buses and taxis on the road.

Other media reports said schools had been affected because a "signficant number of teachers" responded to the call by the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers' Association (TTUTA) to stay home.

Nunez also reported that the Atlanic Plaza on the fringe of the Point Lisas Industrial Estate is shut down except for the bank and library.

"The roads are clear", he said, and in "Chaguanas it looks like a Public holiday," Nunez reported.

But latest reports indicated that the masses did not heed the strike call on the first day.