By Sue-Ann Wayow
HUNDREDS of workers at the Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) continue to have the backing of the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU).
This as the union gears up on Tuesday for meeting with TSTT to discuss the company’s restructuring.
On Monday, the CWU joined with the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Governmental Organisations (FITUN), Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) and National Trade Union Centre ( NATUC) in a press conference to continue voicing their concerns over potential further job loss for citizens.
CWU’s president Clyde Elder spoke first.
He said that under TSTT management, “workers have suffered poorly” and that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was “hell-bent on destroying people.”
Elder said the unions remain strong in their fight adding, “When you touch one, you touch all.”
FITUN’s president Joesph Remy said the board made a decision that was mandated by the government in an effort to privatise the company.
Referring to Petrotrin’s refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre and the crashed proposal made by the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) to purchasethe it, he asked, “Why was the OWTU denied the right to run a refinery?”
Remy said that most large businesses were owned by “a certain group of people more powerful than the government” and more power was being given to them by the allowance to have previously owned State assets.
JTUM’s president Ancel Roget also expressed his continued support.
JTUM had issued a press release on Sunday stating that it stood in solidarity with CWU and that “restructuring” was just a nice word for “retrenching.”
On January 17, TSTT issued a statement saying that the company incurred millions in losses especially with the Covid-19 pandemic and the reducing number of traditional phone calls amongst other factors.
According to the company’s chief executive officer Lisa Agard the restructuring was necessary for the company to remain competitive.
