THE historic Charlie King Junction, Fyzabad was turned into a “workers' parliament” on Labour Day as a "motion of no-confidence" in the Prime Minister and his administration was moved by Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) leader Ancel Roget.
The motion was unanimously passed by thousands of workers whose cries of “Rowley must go! Rowley must go!” reverberated in in the birthplace of the labour movement, as trade unions returned in their numbers for the first time in two years since the start of the covid19 pandemic to “deal” with Government and its four per cent wage offer.
In moving the motion, Roget said the role of the government is to protect its citizens and create conditions for economic growth and material prosperity. However, he said under the current PNM-led administration, only a selected few had benefited and Dr Rowley had failed to deliver to the majority.
He said Government had shown a complete disregard for the pain and suffering of ordinary working people and had overseen and consented to the retrenchment of thousands of workers under the guise of restructuring.
[caption id="attachment_960626" align="alignnone" width="1024"] [PAGE 3] Drummers and Trade union members stand at attenion before the start of the Labour March from Avocat junction to Charlie King Junction, Fyzabad, on Sunday. - Lincoln Holder[/caption]Roget said a no-confidence motion would have been rejected in the Parliament but, in the workers parliament, Speaker Brigid Annisette-George had no such authority.
He said copies of the motion would be delivered to President Paula-Mae Weekes, the presiding officers of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, to the Opposition Leader and the sitting Chair of Caricom.
Delivery will begin on Friday following a gathering at the Queen’s Park Savannah. The letter will be delivered to the President first..
Against the backdrop of a calypso with the lyrics pleading, “go, get out now, please leave,” white balloons, each stuck with head shots of the members of the Rowley administration, were released into the air. One by one by trade union leaders, chased them away with dismissive hand movements.
One heckler dared to suggest several times during one of two addresses by Roget and Baptiste, “Flip the coin and criticise Kamla (Persad-Bissessar) too. If Rowley must go, Kamla must go also.”
[caption id="attachment_960625" align="alignnone" width="1024"] [PAGE 4] A member of the Industrial and Sanitation Workers Union displays a placard that says "Stop putting families on the breadline" at a Labour Day march in Fyzabad on Sunday. - Lincoln Holder[/caption]He got to a point where Roget paused his scripted address to assert that “today is about Rowley. When we had to deal with Kamla we dealt with Kamla. Today is about Rowley, don’t confuse the issue.”
Under the blistering sun, thousands of workers arrived at Avocat Junction in all colours of maxi taxis, under the watchful eyes of dozens of uniformed police officers, for the pilgrimage to Fyzabad.
Arm in arm, like they did before
