President
General of the All Trinidad General Workers Trade Union Attorney-at-
Law Nirvan Maharaj is advising the national community that the All
Trinidad General Workers Trade Union will not be taking part in the
July 5th labour
march.
Mr. Maharaj
wishes to emphatically register his support for the idea behind the
Joint Trade Union’s decision to March, as a symbolic gesture in
calling upon the Government to implement the Workers Agenda adopted
in 2010. He is also reiterating his call for a united labour movement
and his support for the JTUM, in its efforts to address issues of
national importance.
Mr. Maharaj
is however asserting that as a matter of principle the All Trinidad
General Workers Trade Union will not at this point in time; take part
in any March, in which officials of the Peoples National Movement
(PNM) will be attending.
Mr. Maharaj
is categorically stating that the callous and brutal shutdown of the
Sugar Industry without any proper mechanisms in place to alleviate
the subsequent hardship of thousands of persons dependant on the
Industry and the treatment of the Ex-Caroni workers at the hands of
the PNM was tantamount to an abuse of power and the blatant
discrimination perpetuated on one segment of the population of our
Nation.
Mr. Maharaj
is also claiming that the appeal of the Deyalsingh judgment of 2007
by the then PNM regime, which ordered that each Ex-Caroni worker by
2008, be allotted the 2 acre agricultural plot and residential lot
legally due to them through the VESEP package, was a violation of all
moral and ethical principles and a heartless attempt by the PNM to
deny the Ex-Caroni workers their legitimate expectation and just due.
In fact because of the PNM and their agents in several state agencies
such as EMBD, The Office of the Commissioner of State Lands and
Caroni (1975) Ltd, Ex-Caroni workers had to wait 10 years and is
still waiting for the process to completed, in order to receive their
entitlement under the Court Order. The actions of the PNM have caused
untold dismay, suffering, pain and frustration among the Ex-Caroni
workers and cannot easily be forgiven
Mr. Maharaj
is ardently declaring that as long as one Ex-Caroni Worker is still
to receive a lease or be allocated a 2 acre plot or residential lot,
the All Trinidad will never march hand in hand with the PNM, for to
do so will be a betrayal of our former membership, their families and
the thousands of people who suffered as a result of the actions of
the PNM with regard to the sugar industry and the Deyalsingh
judgment.
In fact
according to Mr. Maharaj in addition to the brutal treatment of the
Ex-Caroni workers, the PNM as a Political Party was probably the
worst anti -working class entity this nation has ever seen. This can
easily be borne out by the vicious brutalisation of workers in the
Bus strike in 1967, by the PNM passing of the Industrial
Stabilisation Act in March 1965, thereby banning protest and strikes
among the working class and by the unleashing of the police, batons,
bullets and teargas on workers in the march for bread, peace and
justice in 1975.
Mr. Maharaj
is of the view that the PNM joining the labour march is political
tricky at its worst and a hypocrisy that knows no bounds. As such the
All Trinidad In good conscience cannot and will not march with the
PNM.
Press Coverage : TTNewsFlash : http://ttnewsflash.com/?p=36551
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