Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh says workers are being punished for the weather and pathetic leadership of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley with the Covid19 crisis.
On the occasion of International Labour Day, which was celebrated on Saturday, Indarsingh said the day has taken place at the lowest point that the Economy and Industrial Relations has been in decades.
He said “The Prime Minister’s recent announcement of a series of measures akin to a lockdown is a whip on the backs of undeserving workers, breadwinners, families and small businesses who are constantly punished for the Prime Minister’s frought incompetence and astoundingly weak leadership throughout the Covid-19 crisis.”
“Workers continue to lose their jobs in droves, forced to survive by whatever means and measures they can, as Dr. Keith Rowley and his Government continues to collect their full salary despite not having a single good achievement to show for their years in office.”
Indarsingh said “I am inundated daily by persons calling me in confidence, desperate for hope and help, as their savings dwindle, as their bread and butter is lost, as their family members hunt desperately for jobs and as there is no hope on the horizon with the Rowley-led Administration.”
“What is even worse is that the measures imposed upon us by the Prime Minister have brought us no safety of guarantee, since these measures were in place before, and they failed to prevent spikes and spread of infections from taking place,” he said.
“Like an abusive character, the Prime Minister continues to point fingers to the Opposition and everyone else, instead of taking responsibility for our continuously porous borders which caused the entry of the Brazilian variant into this country.
What is the Government really doing? What is Prime Minister Dr. Rowley really putting the working and business class through? After a year of managing this crisis, what has Dr. Rowley really achieved?”
He said “The country is exhausted and fed up of the wanton irresponsibility of this Government, which seems to want to prolong this Covid-19 crisis so they can run the country via decree rather than via democracy.
The Rowley-led administration has created the perfect storm to preserve their political shelf life, while abandoning the interest of families, students, workers, small business owners and the section of the society that keeps the economy running.”
With the world advancing by leaps and bounds in its vaccination agenda, the Rowley-led administration straddles pathetically behind, vaccinating only 40,000 out of 1.4 million people. Essential workers and ordinary workers are left exposed to major risk, even as they strive to keep this country running.
Indarsingh said “The Prime Minister’s disappearance on the morning on which he was scheduled to take the vaccine, and his miraculous reappearance, timed on the same day that the vaccination drive came to a close, also raises much speculation about his real attitude towards vaccination.”
While countries all over the world must shoulder this challenge, there are many small countries that are further ahead in their fight against Covid-19 than we are, and the question is “Why?”
The Opposition is calling on the Prime Minister to exhibit commitment to his job, and boost the acquisition of vaccines at a much faster pace for the workers of this country.
They are also calling upon the Minister of Labour to ensure that the Occupational Health and Safety Agency (OSHA) is mandated and resourced to ensure the adherence of the safety standards in both the public and private sector workspaces, including mandatory sanitization, social distancing, and other measures deemed necessary.
Indarsingh said “In a country where workers in the public sector have been dismissed due to economic mismanagement, and workers in the private sector are being bludgeoned out of jobs by the Government, today, on May Day, workers in Trinidad and Tobago must certainly cry “May Day” as a cry for help.”
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