- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - Hier 07:40

Al-Rawi: UNC leading a reign of terror

THE Opposition PNM has slammed what it described as the uncaring and unrepentant attitude displayed by the UNC on the termination of 10,700 CEPEP employees and other matters of national importance. This position was articulated by Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi and PNM MPs Marvin Gonzales and Keith Scotland after a legal clinic at the Lisas Gardens Community Centre in Couva on June 29 with hundreds of CEPEP contractors and workers. Their comments were aimed at statements made by Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath and Legal Affaurs Minister Saddam Hosein earlier in the day at a news conference at the UNC's headquarters in Chaguanas. Al-Rawi said it was in poor taste for Padarath to make statements about a deceased relative of Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles to defend government's decision to fire CEPEP contractors and workers. Padarath is now the line minister for CEPEP. Beckles led the PNM's team at the legal clinic. She told the media after the meeting the opposition would take legal action on behalf of the affected CEPEP contractors and workers. Beckles also said the PNM would consider similar action in defence of workers at other state entities who may be targeted by the UNC. Al-Rawi described the claims Padarath made about Beckles' relative as "the most feeble of attempts to distract people." He recalled being criticised last month for predicting the public would be subjected to a reign of terror from the UNC. Al-Rawi said this prediction and a similar prediction made by Beckles are slowly coming to pass. "It is just a disaster of epic proportions and there is more to come." Gonzales said it was pure heartlessness for government to terminate the contracts of CEPEP contractors and workers on the cusp of the school term's end. "Interestingly, this has happened as we bring an end to the school term where a lot of our mothers and single parents are depending on a simple wage to feed their families, to send their children to school etc." He said, "By one singular action, by the CEO of CEPEP, their lives have been placed in extreme turmoil." Scotland was equally concerned about what happens next to these people. "What will be their recourse when they have to buy school books for their children? When they now have to go into a period of time where you are expected to fund your children's return to school?" Scotland said, "They were fired immediately. The contracts were terminated immediately. Following from that it means that the 10,700 workers were terminated immediately without one evidence of wrongdoing on their part." He asked, "What happens to that anxiety that has been caused to them and their family?" Al-Rawi said during the meeting, Beckles made the point that one had to consider the effects of the termination of CEPEP contractors and workers on their respective families. Using a rough calculation of five dependents for each person formerly employed with CEPEP and using the same formula for other workers who were fired or being targeted for dismissal, Al-Rawi worked that out to be 12,000 people to be fired and 60,000 dependents to be affected by their firing. He recalled the UNC boasting in its election campaign, it would create 50,000 new jobs. Al-Rawi asked if those 50,000 jobs would be created from the jobs the UNC has recently terminated. Scotland said the CEPEP contractors and workers received no pension or gratuities when they were dismissed. He added no similar development happened under the former PNM government during its nine year tenure in office. Scotland wondered how former trade unionists Ernesto Kesar, Clyde Elder and Leroy Baptiste "they sleep at night with that kind of action." Kesar and Elder, former Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) members, successfully contested the Point Fortin and La Brea constituencies as UNC candidates in the election. Baptiste, a former Public Services Association (PSA) president, was appointed labour minister and a government senator after the election. His successor, PSA president Felicia Thomas, also addressed the UNC briefing on June 29. Al-Rawi offered an opinion on the position of Kesar, Elder, Baptiste and OWTU president-general Ancel Roget on the dismissal of workers since the UNC assumed office. The OWTU and PSA were members of the UNC's "coalition of interests" (COI) during the election. Al-Rawi said, "One thing is they are all very well-mannered because our mothers and fathers taught us not to speak when your mouth is full." He added, "So it is clear that their mouths are filled with what someone has referred to as red meat." Gonzales used that term in relation to things which he claimed the UNC was telling its supporters to mislead them into believing it is performing well as a government. Al-Rawi said no one in the UNC or its COI have any concern about the most vulnerable people being affected by these recent terminations. He added CEPEP and forestry workers each receive $120 per day and $1,400 a fortnight. Scotland said to date nothing has been said about continued employment for the terminated CEPEP contractors and workers. He claimed these and other developments post April 28 have shown the UNC's election mantra to be false. That mantra was "when UNC wins, everybody wins." Scotland asked, "I wonder who is winning now?" a The post Al-Rawi: UNC leading a reign of terror appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.