Labour not fully united on national strike

The labour movement is pushing ahead with its plan to shut down the country although its chief spokesman is saying that the government can prevent a national strike by scrapping its five per cent wage ceiling.

Ancel Roget, President of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union told workers at the San Fernando General Hospital Wednesday the mission of the labour body is "to restore a level of sanity in the country's governance and also for it to transcend and immediately deal with the issue of the five per cent".

When the Prime Minister met last week with the unions she offered to "wipe the slate" clean, dropping the wage ceiling and starting at zero. But the unions rejected that, saying it would only complicate the bargaining process.

On wednesday Roget demanded that said Persad-Bissessar immediately declare an end to the government's five per cent policy position to allow for settlement outside of that limit.

He said the unions don't want to shut down the country. However he added that it is "an end towards achieving the means of getting a better settlement for workers. At the end of the day what workers have is their labour."

He said workers have a right to withhold their labour if they are not getting proper remuneration. "Our forefathers in the movement, they did it, they were successful," he said.

At the same time Roget suggested that he lacks the full support of the workers. "The problem is today we don't have enough conscious workers really willing and able to take the type of collective action that was taken in the past to bring about the achievement that today benefits all of the workers," he said.

Roget said his immediate mission is to raise awareness and declared that he will name a date for the national shutdown when unions are fully prepared to take action.

The labour leader also suggested that a "cabal" of cabinet ministers is misleading the Prime Minister into believing that some workers do not support the strike. He said if she continues to listen to them she would be setting herself up for a fall.

"Prime Minister we love you , don't take their advice, come back and walk with us as you did in Fyzabad last year June 19, 2010," Roget said. He said if employers don't treat workers fairly, the workers won't provide the type of productivity required to kick start the economy.