Click to view full size

Dra­ma erupt­ed at City Hall yes­ter­day as dai­ly-paid work­ers stormed the San Fer­nan­do City Cor­po­ra­tion (SFCC), de­mand­ing over­due salaries, say­ing fi­nan­cial in­sti­tu­tions have been press­ing them for pay­ments.

Chant­i­ng union songs, the group—led by Con­trac­tors and Gen­er­al Work­ers Union pres­i­dent Er­mine De Bique-Meade—crowd­ed the en­trance be­fore mov­ing in­to the lob­by. Their protest gained sup­port from Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment coun­cil­lors Tere­sa Lynch and Naigum Joseph, who joined in cho­rus, clap­ping along as ten­sions rose.

Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress al­der­man Vil­iana Ra­moutars­ingh then hand­ed her phone to De Bique-Meade, with Min­is­ter of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Khadi­jah Ameen on the line. Ameen as­sured work­ers that she was head­ing to her min­istry’s head of­fice, lo­cat­ed at Kent House, Mar­aval, to sign off on funds to pay them, while crit­i­cis­ing San Fer­nan­do May­or Robert Par­ris for not rais­ing the is­sue with her.