Caribbean Report 01-05-2000
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Date
2000-05-01
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Publisher
The British Broadcasting Corporation
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2. Even while several Caribbean countries are celebrating Labour Day, industrial disputes involving teachers, Port workers, and employees of the Grenada Broadcasting Network, are taking place in Grenada. Teachers have rejected government’s wage offer. Negotiations continue in an effort to resolve the disputes. (00:27-02:42)
3. The Vincentian government is spending Labour Day dealing with calls from the Opposition and Public Sector Workers Union for the James Mitchell administration to resign because the government had pushed through a Bill approving pay rises for Members of Parliament although it had significantly lowered recently requested wage increase for public sector workers. (02:43-03:45)
4. May Day is currently taking place in Communist Cuba, and President Fidel Castro is having vast rallies and long speeches under the theme “Elian”. Millions usually attend the May Day celebrations, but they are promising to make this the biggest Elian rally yet. (3:46- 04:10)
5. Guyana is celebrating May Day, but Guyana’s Public Service Union (PSU) will not participate in the State-sponsored event. The PSU is objecting to the presence of Guyana’s Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GARU) which has close ties to the ruling party and did not support the TUC’s wage demand and strike. (04:11-04:47)
6. Lorette Clarkson, President of Grenada Public Workers Union has said that the Caribbean have advanced with regards to the behavior of Trade Unions, as “we have moved out from the role of confrontation and are employing dialogue, discussion and dissemination of information. The idea is to have harmonious co-existence between trade unions and governments”. Ms Clarkson was responding to a question from Ken Richards as to how advanced the Trade Union Movement in the Caribbean is at the start of the 21st century. (04:48-08:32)
7. Workers in Trinidad and Tobago have been celebrating Labour Day on the streets, with about 2000 Union members representing four or five Unions. One Trade Unionist, Robert Guiseppe, said that the issues facing workers in Trinidad and Tobago range around legal recognition and the passage of industrial laws to better protect workers. (08:33-10:14)
8. Cuba has withdrawn from the LOME Successor Agreement due to be signed in June between the European Union and the African, Caribbean, Pacific group of countries, because of European support for the recent UN resolution concerning Cuba’s Human Rights record. (10:15-13:35)
9. Anti-capitalist protesters were gathering in London’s Parliament Square for a peaceful demonstration likened to a carnival atmosphere; but some broke from the group and went to the Prime Minister’s residence where they were met by police in riot gear. They then moved to Trafalgar Square where they trashed a McDonald’s restaurant. The protesters said capitalism is robbing the poor to give to the rich. The police are now standing by. (13:36-15:21)
1. Headlines (00:00-00:26)
3. The Vincentian government is spending Labour Day dealing with calls from the Opposition and Public Sector Workers Union for the James Mitchell administration to resign because the government had pushed through a Bill approving pay rises for Members of Parliament although it had significantly lowered recently requested wage increase for public sector workers. (02:43-03:45)
4. May Day is currently taking place in Communist Cuba, and President Fidel Castro is having vast rallies and long speeches under the theme “Elian”. Millions usually attend the May Day celebrations, but they are promising to make this the biggest Elian rally yet. (3:46- 04:10)
5. Guyana is celebrating May Day, but Guyana’s Public Service Union (PSU) will not participate in the State-sponsored event. The PSU is objecting to the presence of Guyana’s Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GARU) which has close ties to the ruling party and did not support the TUC’s wage demand and strike. (04:11-04:47)
6. Lorette Clarkson, President of Grenada Public Workers Union has said that the Caribbean have advanced with regards to the behavior of Trade Unions, as “we have moved out from the role of confrontation and are employing dialogue, discussion and dissemination of information. The idea is to have harmonious co-existence between trade unions and governments”. Ms Clarkson was responding to a question from Ken Richards as to how advanced the Trade Union Movement in the Caribbean is at the start of the 21st century. (04:48-08:32)
7. Workers in Trinidad and Tobago have been celebrating Labour Day on the streets, with about 2000 Union members representing four or five Unions. One Trade Unionist, Robert Guiseppe, said that the issues facing workers in Trinidad and Tobago range around legal recognition and the passage of industrial laws to better protect workers. (08:33-10:14)
8. Cuba has withdrawn from the LOME Successor Agreement due to be signed in June between the European Union and the African, Caribbean, Pacific group of countries, because of European support for the recent UN resolution concerning Cuba’s Human Rights record. (10:15-13:35)
9. Anti-capitalist protesters were gathering in London’s Parliament Square for a peaceful demonstration likened to a carnival atmosphere; but some broke from the group and went to the Prime Minister’s residence where they were met by police in riot gear. They then moved to Trafalgar Square where they trashed a McDonald’s restaurant. The protesters said capitalism is robbing the poor to give to the rich. The police are now standing by. (13:36-15:21)
1. Headlines (00:00-00:26)