Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has declared that there will be no strike by the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) tomorrow. She was responding to questions posed by the media concerning OWTU President Ancel Roget’s threat to shut down the country and his declaration of “war” on Persad-Bissessar for allegedly using parliamentary privilege to attack him. The PM spoke after the toy distribution event at the Jean Pierre Complex, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
Persad-Bissessar said, “First of all, the Minister of Energy Kevin Ramnarine has explained that we do have supply and we have put contingency plans in place should there be such a strike, so there is no need to panic. “Further the Energy Minster told me that should the OWTU wish to strike they must serve strike notice by a certain time. “At this time Friday he advised that no strike notice had been given and therefore, unless it is a strike outside of the law, no strike will take place on Monday.
“I’ve had a very exceedingly peaceful and blessed day. For those who had declared war on us and have said we will not have any peace inside or outside of Parliament, I make no war on anyone, let there be peace.”
Responding to how the $55 million allocation will be disbursed to various churches, she said they’ve written to every MP through the Ministry of the People and Social Development and asked them to list the churches, caretakers, the numbers in the congregation of each church. Persad-Bissessar said there were more than 1,500 churches in the country and there may be some that may not be registered. She said the $55 million figure was budgeted but all may not be spent.
