The Na­tion­al Trade Union Cen­tre of Trinidad and To­ba­go (NATUC) has strong­ly con­demned a re­cent state­ment by the Down­town Own­ers and Mer­chants As­so­ci­a­tion (DO­MA) crit­i­cis­ing al­leged in­ef­fi­cien­cies and de­lays at the ports of Port of Spain and Point Lisas.

While DO­MA fo­cused on the im­pact of de­lays on busi­ness op­er­a­tions, NATUC em­pha­sized that the hu­man el­e­ment — the chal­lenges faced dai­ly by port work­ers — must not be over­looked.

Ac­cord­ing to NATUC, work­ers have long con­tend­ed with ag­ing in­fra­struc­ture, out­dat­ed equip­ment, lim­it­ed in­vest­ment, in­ter-agency co­or­di­na­tion is­sues, and a short­age of func­tion­al ma­chin­ery, forc­ing re­liance on im­pro­vised meth­ods.