By Chantalé Fletcher
PRESIDENT of the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget says Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) workers were treated unfairly in an Industrial Court judgement.
“The workers were dealt a very unfair blow and we are not going to accept any 0-0-0. If there’s one group of workers in T&T that deserve a proper adjustment on their wages it is the T&TEC workers,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Roget said T&TEC workers continued to work to benefit the economy.
He made references to profits recorded by several businesses in 2021, which could not be possible without the supply of electricity by essential T&TEC workers.
Roget said, “ANSA McAL made a profit in 2021 of $935 million, Republic Bank made $395 million in the first quarter of 2021, Guardian Holding Limited made $782.33 million, One Caribbean Media made $29 million profit in 2021 while Angostura made $153.3 million.”
He said that had it not been for T&TEC workers, these establishments would not be able to record such profits.
On February 18, the Industrial Court ruled a 0-0-0 percent increase for the collective bragging unit which would cover from January 2015 to December 2017 for T&TEC employees.
Roget called for the treatment of the specific period of collective bargaining with the justification of the profitability or the success of the Commission for that period.
He said, “The Commission did not prove its case that there was an inability to pay.”
Roget said there were two outstanding periods moving forward – 2018- 2020 and 2020 to 2022.”
He said, “And the commission would come and say Covid is in that period and therefore respecting that period, it will have to be treated in terms of what occurred within that period.
“If the court is saying that a period outside of Covid, you are going to make an award of nothing for the workers. What do you expect the court or employers to say in the period of Covid?
“Therefore, what we can foresee going forward if this is allowed to stand, nothing for workers not only for the period that has gone but for those periods that are coming and continuing.”
