Trinidad and Tobago trade unions were observing Labour Day here on Friday with the traditional march and rally at Fyzabad, a town in southwestern Trinidad and renewing calls for workers’ rights, fair wages and social justice.
The National Trade Union Centre of Trinidad and Tobago (NATUC) in a statement said the occasion should not be regarded purely in terms of a holiday, but a solemn recognition of the struggles and sacrifices that secured dignity, fair wages, safe working conditions and respect in the workplace. It said that these principles remain vital as workers continue to face rising living costs, wage stagnation and job insecurity, while expressing concern over prolonged delays in collective bargaining negotiations and that many workers have waited years for settlements while inflation steadily erodes their earnings.
‘Justice delayed is justice denied,’ the the umbrella trade union organisation said, highlighting challenges faced by workers in exercising their rights to organise and be represented.
‘When workers prosper, families prosper; when families prosper, communities prosper; and when communities prosper, the nation prospers,’ NATUC said, with the traditional union call of ‘Forward ever, backward never’.
The Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) said that its members have been waiting for the government to pay outstanding backpay to its members with its president, Crystal Ashe, accusing the government of shifting the goalpost.
‘Comrades, let me hear you. Labour! Labour! Labour! That is why TTUTA is proud to stand here today. Labour Day is much more than a celebration. It is a declaration, a declaration that workers matter.
‘A declaration that dignity matters. A declaration that fairness, justice, equity, all of these things matter. Today, TTUTA stands shoulder to shoulder with every union representative, whether you work in education, if you work in social services, whatever, we are together because we stand together.
‘Collectively, we stand together. When workers are denied what is rightfully theirs, we all feel impacted. When agreements are ignored, we feel impacted. When one union speaks out about injustice, the entire labour movement must move with them, must rally with them, must combine with them. Their strength must be seen in unity.
‘As the voice of TTUTA for over 14,000 educators across Trinidad and Tobago, we come…carrying some concerns, which it would be remiss of me not to mention,’ Ash said.
He said that educators signed a collective agreement, in April 2025 and ‘yet, 14 months later, we are still waiting on our monies.
‘What do you think about that? What do you think about that? So we’re waiting 14 months,’ he said, making reference to a statement in Parliament by the government that the funding will be allocated in the 2027 national budget.
‘But I will tell you something…it will seem as if I am the problem. It will seem as if I am the problem, because….after today, you might hear fiscal year 2028, 2029,’ Ash said, adding ‘we say enough is enough’.
President of the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW), Christopher Street, expressed confidence in former labour leaders who now sit in the cabinet and the parliament of the country.
‘Let me ask you, who does make policy in our country? Not the government. So if the government makes any policy, you don’t want to be at the table, right? And I’m saying, that right now, we have members of the trade union movement going to the cabinet and going to the parliament.
‘And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, they’ve been looking after the country,’ he added.
Former trade unionist David Abdullah said that trade unions are facing challenges of unity.
Abdullah, who now heads the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), a political organisation, said this is due to politics and that while he understands the differences, trade unions must unite in the best interests of the working class.
‘We do know now that there are challenges in the union movement. One cannot escape the fact that there are challenges with respect to unity, because some unions opened it back to UNC (United National Congress) prior to the last elections in 2025, others didn’t.
‘And there’s still that tension. But I don’t think that that tension or those difficulties are as great,’ said the former education officer of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) recalling the breakup of NATUC in 2000 ‘and other examples going back when unions had even more difficulties in coming together.
‘But I urge comrades, my comrades, former colleagues in leadership, people I still consider comrades from the union movement, to be able to overcome these challenges and to unite for the common struggle in defence of the working class.’
The Labour Day rally also provided an opportunity for persons protesting the January 20 police involved killing of 31 year-old Joshua Samaroo and the subsequent charges, including manlsaughter being laid against his 25-year-old common-law wife, Kaia Sealy who was severely injured during the operation.
Sealy has been released on TT$700,000 (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) bail after she appeared virtually before Master Nazeera Ali in the Tunapuna Police Station on Wednesday to answer the charges, a few hours after returning to the island from overseas where she is undergoing medical treatment.
She will return to court for a status hearing on October 8, with the sufficiency hearing set for October 22.
Among the protestors on Friday was Alyssa Phillip, who along with her mother, Camille Caresquero, have been granted TT$10,000 bail on charges stemming from a demonstration near the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions last month.
They have been charged with disorderly behavior and with influencing public opinion in a manner prejudicial to public safety under the Emergency Powers Regulation.
Phillip told the protest that Trinidad and Tobago will not be decided by fear.
‘It will not be decided by silence. It will not be decided by intimidation. It will be decided by citizens who refuse to abandon truth, justice, fairness and democracy. Let Labour Day be remembered as the day we reaffirm that no institution is greater than the people.
‘No office is greater than the constitution. No authority is greater than justice. And no power is greater than truth. Justice, truth, accountability for every citizen, for every family, for Trinidad and Tobago,’ she added, as police mounted a heavy presence at Fyzabad.