THE Chief Personnel Officer’s (CPO) starter two per cent offer to public sector workers, rising unemployment, the erosion of permanent work regimes and the growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots are among the topics that are expected to dominate the Labour Day observance in TT.

The theme of this year’s celebration is Unite To Fight: Today For Me, Tomorrow For You.

Trade union leaders told Sunday Newsday they are also deeply concerned about the continued absence of dialogue between the government and the working class and the high cost of living.

They believe if things continue on the current trajectory, it could spell trouble for the country.

Public Services Association (PSA) president Leroy Baptiste described the country’s labour climate as toxic and confrontational.

“It is a virtual war zone,” he said.

PSA officials met on Friday with CPO Dr Daryl Dindial in a third instalment of discussions on wage increases within the public sector. The union has rejected Dindial’s four per cent wage increase offer for the period 2014-2021.

The CPO also met recently with representatives of the Police Social and Welfare Association and the Fires Services Association.

[caption id="attachment_960457" align="alignnone" width="1024"] In this Labour Day 2019 file photo, teachers take part in the march in Fyzabad. -[/caption]

Baptiste believes the main issue facing all workers in this country is what he considers to be the annihilation of the middle class and the widening gap between the working, middle and upper classes.

Flowing from the main issue, Baptiste said, are the techniques employed by the government which he accused of “attacking the few remaining better paying jobs under the guise of restructuring in the state sector.”

Baptiste cited restructuring exercises at Caribbean Airlines, Trinidad Cement Ltd, Tourism Development Company, Petrotrin, University of TT, and more recently, the Telecommunications Services of TT (TSTT), as examples.

He claimed the government has also set its sights on the Water and Sewerage Authority, TT Electricity Commission, Board of Inland Revenue, Customs & Excise and the Port Authority.

[caption id="attachment_960458" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A cross-section of trade union members during Labour Day in Fyzabad in 2019. -[/caption]

Claiming the government has continued to attack permanent jobs across the board, Baptiste said when state enterprises are restructured, the new entities are created to offer short-term contracts with little or no benefits.

As such, he said, workers are left with no capacity to plan their future and will not qualify for home mortgages.

“The paltry salaries exclude them from qualifying for mortgages anyway.”

Baptiste also accused the government of refusing to ensure the filling of vacancies within the public service.

He claimed more than half of all positions in the public service are vacant.

“Instead, they have proliferated the public service with contract employment and the effect is the continued exploitatio