LABOUR HAS NOTHING TO CELEBRATE!

THE labour “movement” reminds me of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

“Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

The current trade union freeloaders, who live off members’ monthly dues, dutifully link arms on Labour Day, chant militant slogans, sing anthems, and throw invective at the authorities.

But they have betrayed a working class that is enduring the worst humanitarian crisis since the 1980s, with double-digit unemployment and scant disposable income in the midst of a widening wealth gap.

Labour “leaders” shake off their comatose state at this time each year to utter clichéd threats to the employer class.

But these trade unionists meekly accepted four per cent wage increases for public sector workers while the cost of food has gone up by as much as 100 per cent over the past six years.

Betraying the essential purpose of the labour sector, the unionists sheepishly bowed to the employers’ offer, not even threatening a worker shutdown, summoning a public rally, or lobbying international agencies.

Their shameless docility was exposed by – of all people! – an Industrial Court judge, who said the trade unions declined to mount a legal challenge before the institution.

The labour bodies did not bother to force the Government’s hand even after a $61.4 billion national budget, prompted by an energy windfall.

Five increases in fuel charges have also jacked up the cost of living.

The monopoly in the importation of pharmaceuticals  — which was cemented while the government looked the other way and labour was blissfully asleep – has led to higher retail costs of medicine.

The most affected are pensioners, fixed-income earners, and single mothers in the informal sector, some of whom endure long hours for minimum wage and then take late-night taxis home, praying to evade prowling criminals.

Spineless union men are mum as large corporations record historic profits, even as thousands of small businesses are forced into closure, sending home workers.

Labour bosses have closed their eyes to unconscionable bank charges and conditions, which have led families to lose their homes and entrepreneurs to close up shop.

They failed to agitate as the government backtracked on a Caricom plan to grow more food since this would cut into the annual $6 billion import trade of the business elite.

The property tax and other punitive measures are weighing down while one-third of the society exists on the threshold of the poverty line, unable to afford nutritious meals.

Labour yellow-bellies are indifferent as arable lands are parcelled off for government jefes and for the construction of shopping malls by business blue-bloods. 

But the continued mothballing of the oil refinery and other energy facilities is possibly the most graphic example of the wretched state of labour.

The Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union — whose gutsy blue-shirt army once relentlessly advocated the welfare of the labouring class – has timidly accepted the government’s senseless agenda.

A generation ago, George Weekes, the epitome of labour courage, campaigned for nationals to own “the commanding heights of the economy” through the exit of multinational Texaco.

Weekes – in tandem with Basdeo Panday in the sugar cane belt —  pitched a flat-out campaign against maximum leader Dr. Eric Williams – and won.

Today’s Ancel Roget’s OWTU is a wimpy body of deadbeats, an eternity away from when Paramount Building was a bulwark on issues ranging from shop floor conditions, to gender matters, to crime and drug-running, — and more.

The entire labour sector has remained tight-lipped while corporate jefes with unknown credentials lapped up the Point Lisas steel plant, a facility for which the laid-off 644 workers had submitted a bid.

OWTU and fellow labour weaklings had also lost their voice when the government withdrew litigation against the honchos in the $3.1 billion WGTL debacle.

There are abundant examples that illustrate the gutless labour sector that mere years ago struggled boldly for social and economic equity and for good national governance.

Those leaders of resolve have been succeeded by unionists lacking backbone, character and ambition.

Labour simply has nothing to celebrate!