UNC chairman Davendranath Tancoo believes the Prime Minister's plan to end the service commissions is "a step towards dictatorship."
Tancoo was speaking at a UNC press conference in Port of Spain on Monday morning.
At a PNM sports and family day at the Toco Secondary School on Sunday, Dr Rowley said he will bring legislation to Parliament to replace the service commissions with a single tribunal to hear the complaints of public servants.
At present service commissions are to appoint, promote, transfer and discipline workers in the public service.
Rowley said modern management systems must be put in place.
“These so-called independent service commissions that are hamstringing this country, there are certain things that will never change, that will never improve, as long as basic management tenets are not being met..."
Under his plan, he said, "Any public officer, whether it is a prison officer or policeman or teacher, if you have a problem with the management, you go to the tribunal and the tribunal will protect you. And that will give us a giant step and that is reform of the Constitution.”
In response, Tancoo said Rowley was always heading in this direction.
"The interference with service commissions, the attempt to politicise service commissions, has been the Prime Minister's modus operandi from day one."
This, he said, has already been done with the Police Complaints Authority, Police Service Commission and "several others."
Tancoo said Rowley "deliberately wants political control over every aspect of decision-making in this country."
He said service commissions were created to insulate employment, as well as various parts of the economy, country and civil service from "direct political interference...
"But this prime minister and this government have deliberately sought to mismanage and deliberately sought to interfere with the operations...
"We see this as one more step in the abuse of office and towards dictatorship."
Rowley had predicted the Opposition would not support the idea.
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