标签： Trinidad and Tobago

A decades-long industrial dispute has reached a major milestone, as nearly $350 million in long-outstanding cost-of-living allowance (COLA) payments has been released to current and former workers of the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC), Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath has confirmed. The announcement came during a press interaction at the recent launch of a new solar power system for Angostura Holdings Ltd’s bitters bottling facility in Laventille’s Angostura House.

Padarath explained that the disbursement fulfills a commitment made by the Prime Minister several months prior to resolve backlogged COLA obligations covering the 2015 to 2025 period, noting that the process is currently moving forward as planned. He added that government officials have maintained consistent, open dialogue with the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), the primary representative body for T&TEC’s workforce, throughout the settlement process.

“Over the last couple of months, we have paid out, I would say, close to $350 million in outstanding payments that were owed to T&TEC workers,” Padarath told reporters.

The minister framed the COLA settlement as a core component of broader government efforts to stabilize industrial relations at the state-owned utility, clear long-standing unpaid obligations, and implement structural restructuring for the organization. Ongoing negotiations are already underway to address bargaining agreements for current and future contract periods, he confirmed, adding that T&TEC’s day-to-day operations remain fully stable amid the changes.

“Morale is high in T&TEC. There are a lot of changes that are happening there, negotiations for the current period, and the outstanding ones will progress in the very near future. There is a good relationship with the OWTU, who is the majority trade union representative for T&TEC,” Padarath said. “We have seen significant improvements with respect to outstanding COLA and settlement of wages and so on. And therefore, we look towards the future.”

Contacted for verification, OWTU Second Vice-President Reesa Ramlogan-Jodha confirmed that disbursements are proceeding under a structured phased plan that includes both active T&TEC employees and former workers, including retirees. The rollout began late last year for current staff, with payments continuing through the early months of 2026, she explained.

“The payment would have been in one or two parts. Each part would have had tranches. So, in December 2025, January and February of 2026, active employees would have received what was outstanding,” Ramlogan-Jodha said.

Following the completion of payments to current staff, focus has now shifted to former employees, with disbursements scheduled for May, June, and July of 2025. By the end of July, all outstanding COLA obligations will be fully settled, she confirmed.

The COLA backlog is a decades-long industrial issue that has stretched back more than 10 years, Ramlogan-Jodha noted, explaining that the OWTU had repeatedly pushed previous T&TEC management teams to resolve the unpaid liability over the years. For much of that period, prior management administrations refused to even acknowledge that the payments were owed, a position that caused major delays in reaching any resolution.

“The then management would not even acknowledge that there was a payment outstanding to workers and former workers who would have fallen within that period. As far as they were concerned, there was nothing owed,” she said.

The turning point came following a change in government administration and a shift in T&TEC’s leadership, which brought a new, more collaborative approach to negotiations, Ramlogan-Jodha added. The new management team has been far more open to finding mutually acceptable solutions to outstanding worker issues.

While the COLA backlog is nearing resolution, it represents only one part of a broader set of outstanding industrial issues between the OWTU and T&TEC. Negotiations over wage agreements for the 2015–2017 and 2018–2020 contract periods are still active, Ramlogan-Jodha noted, adding that the union has formally requested to restart discussions and multiple negotiating sessions have already been held. Though no final deal has been reached, both sides have committed to continuing bilateral talks to find common ground.

For the 2015–2017 period, the Industrial Court previously issued a 0-0-0 wage ruling, which the OWTU appealed; the case is now back before the court. T&TEC has indicated it prefers to resolve both outstanding contract periods through direct negotiation, and if the parties can reach a voluntary agreement, the court case will be resolved accordingly, Ramlogan-Jodha said.

She emphasized that the union remains optimistic about ongoing talks, citing the marked improvement in collaborative relations with the current T&TEC administration. Progress has also been made on other outstanding collective bargaining issues, including field worker placement and overall employment conditions, with incremental advances recorded since the end of last year.

A major infrastructure oversight has emerged at Tobago’s newly constructed ANR Robinson International Airport terminal, with the National Petroleum Company Ltd (NP) confirming that connecting fuel lines from the existing airport site to the new terminal will carry a price tag of $50 million. THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine recently verified the cost estimate, shedding light on a critical gap in the terminal’s construction: the new building was completed without any on-site fuelling infrastructure at all. In an interview with local media outlet Express, Augustine detailed that discussions with NP several months ago yielded the $50 million projection, adding that the national energy firm is currently debating whether it will absorb the full cost of the project. For Augustine and the Tobago House of Assembly, the project is far more than a basic construction fix: the regional body wants the new terminal to meet modern, efficient, and competitive standards that match or exceed peer airports across the Caribbean and broader global aviation network. The oversight, Augustine explained, is not an unforeseen mistake. He recalled that former THA Infrastructure Secretary Trevor James first flagged the need for integrated fuelling infrastructure back in 2022, when the ruling PNM Cabinet held a gathering in Tobago at the prime minister’s official residence. Despite the early warning, Augustine said, the THA’s input was sidelined, and construction proceeded without including this critical utility. “But of course, as usual, in 2022 the THA was ignored, our thoughts were not considered at the time and the terminal was built without that critical infrastructure there,” Augustine stated. Even with the past disregard for local input, Augustine emphasized that the THA remains committed to collaborating with Trinidad and Tobago’s central government to get the terminal fully and efficiently operational. He framed the airport as a key economic asset for Tobago, rather than just a transit hub for passengers. “Airports in of themselves are potentials for generating income; we have to see the airport as such and not just as a hub for planes to land and pick up people, but as an income-generating facility,” he said. The issue has now gained traction at the national level: Minister of Works and Infrastructure Jearlean John acknowledged the problem in a Monday interview with Express, confirming that the project will require design adjustments to address the fuelling gap. John shared that she shares concerns over the terminal’s current lack of fuelling capacity, and has scheduled a meeting with relevant officials later this week to map out a path forward. The full proposal to resolve the issue will be presented to the national Cabinet for consideration next week.

A sharp exchange of public accusations has escalated political tensions in Trinidad and Tobago, after Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles issued a fiery rejection of claims from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar that the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) has been hijacked and controlled by unelected “fake elite financiers”.

The verbal confrontation traces back to a chaotic parliamentary sitting last Friday, when the entire PNM bloc staged a mass walkout from the chamber after Deputy House Speaker Dr. Aiyna Ali shut down the opposition’s protests. The unrest began when PNM leaders objected to the inclusion of Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi in the debate over the adoption of the Special Report from the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC). Al-Rawi and fellow PNM Senator Janelle John-Bates had helped former health minister Terrence Deyalsingh draft his witness statement submitted to the committee. In the wake of the controversy, John-Bates publicly offered her resignation from the Senate, with Beckles confirming Friday that she is still reviewing whether to accept the departure.

During the heated debate, Beckles’ leadership of the opposition was publicly labeled as “weak” by ruling party figures. Shortly after the walkout, Persad-Bissessar took to social media to amplify the criticism, claiming that Al-Rawi — the PNM’s public relations officer — remained untouchable and protected by the party’s hidden backers. She argued that the entire PNM now operates solely to serve the interests of its secret financiers, alleging that Beckles was installed by these outside forces to replace the old PNM leadership and cannot defy their demands. The Prime Minister further claimed that the PNM’s walkout was not triggered by the government’s call for John-Bates’ removal, but by the demand that Beckles remove Al-Rawi over his role in the scandal.

In her formal response released via social media on the following day, Beckles struck back with equally harsh criticism, labeling the prime minister’s claims as baseless, desperate, and embarrassing. She dismissed the accusations of outside financial control as wild, spurious attacks from a leader who has run out of factual arguments, describing the social media outburst as nothing more than a childish political tantrum. Opening her response with a firm declaration of “I will not be bullied,” Beckles pushed back against Persad-Bissessar’s narrative, pointing out that the prime minister herself occupies a vulnerable, isolated position amid growing discontent.

Beckles emphasized that as PNM leader, all decisions about parliamentary representation will follow due process, and the ruling government has no right to dictate how the opposition manages its own members. She went on to attack the governing bloc, noting that multiple current government legislators are out on bail, hold falsified professional qualifications, face active court proceedings, and post vulgar, inappropriate content on public social media platforms — yet the prime minister has not taken action against any of these figures.

The opposition leader also defended the PNM’s decision to walk out of parliament, framing the move as a principled stand against a government that abused its parliamentary majority, ignored established standing orders, and allowed proceedings to descend into political theater and chaos. She highlighted a key contradiction in the prime minister’s criticism: Persad-Bissessar was not present for Friday’s sitting or the debate at all, yet she is now issuing sweeping judgments on events she did not witness first-hand. Beckles argued that if the prime minister wants to lecture on proper parliamentary conduct, she must first show consistent attendance in the chamber to fulfill her responsibilities to the public and understand the issues on the ground.

Beckles also accused the government of manufacturing selective outrage to inflate a minor procedural issue, while ignoring serious procedural breaches outlined in the PAAC Minority Report. She insisted that all parliamentary misconduct must be investigated with the same level of scrutiny, and that a single universal standard of conduct applied equally to all lawmakers is essential to protecting public trust and upholding the proper function of Trinidad and Tobago’s democratic institutions. Closing her statement, Beckles reaffirmed that the PNM will not be intimidated by the ruling party’s attacks, and will continue to act responsibly, uphold due process, and defend the interests of all Trinidad and Tobago citizens.

One of the longest-running territorial disputes in the Western Hemisphere is set to take a critical new step this week, as the United Nations’ highest court for inter-state disputes begins a seven-day public hearing into the conflicting claims over Guyana’s Essequibo region between the South American neighbors Guyana and Venezuela.

The oral proceedings, open to the public, are scheduled to take place at the iconic Peace Palace in The Hague, the Netherlands, the permanent headquarters of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The hearing centers on the legal status of the 1899 Arbitral Award, a century-old border ruling that forms the core of the conflict between the two nations.

The dispute traces its origins back to 1899, when an international tribunal based in Paris issued the Arbitral Award that granted control of roughly two-thirds of the contested 159,000-square-kilometer Essequibo region to British Guiana, the predecessor state to modern-day independent Guyana. For decades, Venezuela has rejected the legitimacy of the ruling, arguing that the 1899 process was riddled with procedural and legal flaws. Under the terms of the 1966 Geneva Agreement, signed as Guyana prepared for independence from Britain, both countries agreed to pursue a negotiated settlement to the dispute.

The legal journey to the ICJ began in 2018, when Guyana formally submitted an application to the court, initiating official proceedings against Venezuela. Guyana’s filing asked the court to confirm the legal validity and binding force of the 1899 Arbitral Award that established the border between the two states.

From the outset, Venezuela has disputed the ICJ’s authority to hear the case. Shortly after Guyana filed its claim, Venezuela notified the court that it rejected ICJ jurisdiction and would not participate in the proceedings. That position was challenged in a December 2020 ICJ ruling, which found that the court did have the legal authority to hear the application, including questions related to the validity of the 1899 award and the final settlement of the land border dispute.

Venezuela filed a formal preliminary objection to this ruling in June 2022. In response, the ICJ issued a follow-up judgment this past April, rejecting Venezuela’s objection and confirming that it could proceed to adjudicate the substance of Guyana’s claims, within the bounds of the jurisdiction outlined in the 2020 ruling. This decision clears the way for this week’s public hearings on the merits of the dispute.

The dispute re-emerged in global headlines just days before the hearing, after Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez wore a map-shaped brooch depicting Venezuela as including the entire Essequibo region during a diplomatic engagement with the Caribbean Community (Caricom). The move drew an immediate rebuke from Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali, who sent a formal letter to Caricom Chairman Dr. Terrance Drew. In the letter, Ali argued that using a Caricom-hosted event to advance a territorial claim against another Caricom member state risks being interpreted as the regional body acquiescing to or tolerating the claim.

Ali reaffirmed Guyana’s long-held position that the dispute is properly before the ICJ for a binding final ruling. “Guyana remains fully committed to the peaceful resolution of this matter in accordance with international law,” he stated. “We continue to repose our confidence in the court and to respect its processes and eventual judgement.”

Rodriguez assumed the role of acting President of Venezuela earlier this year, after a U.S. military operation led to the capture of former President Nicolas Maduro, who is currently detained and awaiting trial on criminal charges in a New York court.