DAILY paid workers at the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago staged a protest yesterday outside the Waterfront on Dock Road, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, demanding increased salaries and better working conditions.
They carried placards highlighting the rising cost of food, with messages such as: “We can’t afford bread with 2013 salaries”, and “Dockers’ Sweat”.
The protesters chanted “Better wages right now.”
Secretary of the daily paid workers Wendell Goodridge said: “We are in a simple, peaceful demonstration to bring to the knowledge of the public our plight—things that we have legitimate concerns with, like better wages and better conditions. We want to show T&T that things are not right. We are here today to show the country that it is not right.”
Port workers represented by the Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Trade Union (SWWTU) are concerned about an unfulfilled bargaining agreement as well as health and safety concerns.
Over the past few weeks, they have alternated between staying off the job and returning to work, only to stay away again.
In response, the Port Authority eventually sought assistance from the Defence Force.
The SWWTU and other unions have condemned the port’s decision to use military personnel in place of workers, and the unions have since called for the removal of the military assistance, citing interference with industrial relations.
Yesterday, attempts to contact Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Trade Union (SWWTU) president general Michael Annisette by phone were unsuccessful.
Port Authority chairman Lyle Alexander remarked, “I can’t comment on something I don’t know about. I had no idea there was a protest.”