Thir­teen trade unions, call­ing them­selves the Pro­gres­sive In­de­pen­dent Trade Unions, are now threat­en­ing le­gal ac­tion against the Gov­ern­ment over the State of Emer­gency (SOE) reg­u­la­tions that re­strict pub­lic protests at 15 des­ig­nat­ed lo­ca­tions na­tion­wide. The unions warn that the mea­sures un­der­mine con­sti­tu­tion­al free­doms and se­vere­ly lim­it tra­di­tion­al labour rights.

The unions held a news con­fer­ence at the Trinidad and To­ba­go Uni­fied Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA) head of­fice in Carlsen Field, where TTUTA pres­i­dent Crys­tal Ashe said they will not be si­lenced. He said the unions are pre­pared to act with­in the law if the reg­u­la­tions are not re­vised.

“We will not be moved. We will do what is nec­es­sary, all with­in the am­bit of the law. I want to be very clear on that. We would have sought le­gal coun­sel be­fore we came here. We didn’t just come here by vaps, we are here to ex­plain to you, the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty, what is tak­ing place,” he said.