THE Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) has accused the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) of bullying workers into work in an unsafe environment.
The accusation has come from president general of the union which represents electricity workers, Ancel Roget, following an attempt by the commission to get an injunction to stop workers from engaging in industrial action, over the weekend.
T&TEC has denied the accusation.
At an October 28 news conference at Paramount Building, San Fernando, Roget said instead of addressing the concerns facing workers, the commission sought an injunction from the Industrial Court to enjoin them “in bullying workers” against using peaceful protest to draw attention to the issues, but failed.
The Industrial Court has set aside November 11 for a case management hearing of the matter.
At the news conference, Roget categorically denied that electricity workers had engaged or were engaging in industrial action.
The union also denied that Tobago electricity workers did not show up for duty as alleged by the management which went to court for a second time on Monday, to stop the union and workers from engaging in illegal industrial action.
“You would recall me saying to the media (at a nationwide picket by T&TEC workers on October 24), that workers came out from 6.30 am to 7 o’clock to engage in a protest action, and religiously by 7 am, workers throughout the entire T&TEC establishment world have reported for work.
“During their lunchtime, from 12 to 1 pm or whatever their designated lunchtime would have been, workers used their own time, not T&TEC’s time, not the commission’s time, not affecting the operation in any way.
“The accusation that was made against the union and the workers that the union is engaged in industrial action, is not true.
“It is not true because the operation was not affected. It is not true because those workers would have reported diligently for their respective duties on their rostered shifts. Office workers, administrative workers, everybody would have reported for work and, therefore, the operation was not affected.”
The issues affecting electricity workers include: no wage increase since 2014, manpower shortages affecting consumers, delays in filling vacancies while contract workers are engaged, health and safety issues and defective vehicles.
After the demonstration, Roget said the union was invited to an October 26 “crisis meeting" with T&TEC management. At that meeting, the union said it asked T&TEC for proof that workers failed to report for duty as it alleged. Roget said the company was unable to provide such proof.
Roget said the meeting was used to again outline the ills facing workers and management was urged to address the issues to ensure a reliable service to consumers and the health and safety of all workers.
“Instead, they ran to the Industrial Court, behind the backs of the union to get an injunction to stop their protest action. To prevent this protest action which is not indus
