Roget calls on PM to rescind Rowley’s $1M pension; union leaders celebrate PNM’s defeat

The Joint Trade Union Move­ment (JTUM) re­turned to Fyz­abad yes­ter­day with An­cel Ro­get de­clar­ing vic­to­ry in labour’s long strug­gle to re­move the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) from gov­ern­ment. Stand­ing on the JTUM plat­form at Char­lie King Junc­tion, the Oil­fields Work­ers’ Trade Union (OW­TU) Pres­i­dent Gen­er­al called on the new ad­min­is­tra­tion to now claw back the 47 per cent salary in­crease grant­ed to for­mer prime min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley, which al­lows him to re­ceive a $1 mil­lion pen­sion.

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar lat­er joined hun­dreds of union­ists who had ear­li­er braved the per­sis­tent driz­zle and grey skies yes­ter­day, tak­ing shel­ter un­der um­brel­las or proud­ly walk­ing through the rain, as they as­sem­bled at Av­o­cat Junc­tion for the Labour Day march. The pro­ces­sion, swelling in num­bers com­pared to pre­vi­ous years, moved along Fyz­abad Road to­ward Char­lie King Junc­tion—puls­ing with the beat of drums and chants for jus­tice.

It was more than just an­oth­er ral­ly. It was a state­ment. Union mem­bers waved co­coyea brooms in open mock­ery of the PNM’s elec­tion song Sweep­ing Time. A crick­et bat la­belled UNC knocked a ball marked PNM, sym­bol­is­ing a clean po­lit­i­cal dis­missal. Bell men, moko jumbies, and flag bear­ers added Car­ni­val-like en­er­gy to a march laced with both satire and se­ri­ous­ness.