A war has broken out between Guardian Business Editor, Anthony Wilson, and Joseph Remy of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) over the issue of the sale of the so-called “crown jewels” of the economy of this country. The idea was recently broached by Wilson in the Business Guardian two Thursdays ago, and there was a swift retort from Remy in full-page advertisements in both the Express and the Newsday condemning the proposal.
Therein lies the major challenge for the PNM Government as their MOU with the Joint Trade Union Movement may not allow them the wiggle room that they would like where the policy options of privatization and divestment are concerned.
Wilson’s article is perhaps the spark that has opened up a debate with the JTUM who have formed the view that he is being used as a front for an agenda of privatisation which is anathema to them.
In a press conference at the CWU headquarters last Monday, the JTUM made their condemnation of Wilson’s article quite clear. As far as they are concerned, the Government has to keep TSTT, Petrotrin, FCB, the National Gas Company and Phoenix Park Gas Processors out of private hands.
According to General Secretary of the CWU, Joseph Remy:
“So you’re going to make a one-off capital sale, bring in money and reduce your ability to earn recurrent revenue on an annual basis. Now that has to be a most flawed and illogical way of making an economic argument because you are going to have a one-off sale, bring in capital and what is going to happen on a recurrent basis when you don’t earn revenue from these State entities?”
It appears that the battle lines are being drawn with the Government. In his budget presentation, Finance Minister Colm Imbert spoke quite clearly when he said:
“Madam Speaker, these taxation measures are estimated to yield an additional $5.2 billion and reduce expenditure by $340 million, by commencing the process for reforming the fuel subsidy. They will be supplemented by a sale of assets programme and the receipt of extraordinary dividends projected to yield a further $13.4 billion, including partial repayment by Clico relating to the Government’s financial support; proceeds from the initial public offer of Trinidad and Tobago NGL Ltd; capital repayment from Trinidad Generation Unlimited; dividends from the National Gas Company.” (Hansard, October 5, 2015, p 33)
What is causing the disquiet among the trade unions is the Government’s stated intention to engage in “a sale of assets programme” which is being regarded as a means by which there will be revenue generation in this fiscal year. In the absence of any specifics, there is some measure of nervousness as regards which “assets” are likely to be sold.
With the appointment of Dr Terrence Farrell by the Government to chair an Economic Advisory Board and a review of his December 14, 2015, column in the Express titled Mischief and Misinformation, where his view of what constitutes “national patrimony” in respect of foreign exchange comes through very clearly, it is obvious that the trade unions have a problem with him.
Eugene Reynald, writing in a post on the website of the CWU on December 23, 2015, had this to say about Farrell’s argument:
“My main concern is with the right being claimed, by the parasitic oligarchy and their agents, to confidentiality and secrecy in their interactions with supposed trustees of the people’s patrimony when such patrimony of citizens is being transacted. The rationalisation put out by Farrell, who is the main economic advisor to Cabinet, is an argument for the right being claimed by the oligarchy and their agents.”
Anthony Wilson has raised the issue of the Government considering the sale of the so-called “crown jewels”. In so doing, he has included Terrence Farrell as a favourable source of analysis for such a move. In his column in the Business Guardian last Thursday, he quoted from an address by Farrell to the Barbados Chamber of Commerce that justified the privatization of these “crown jewels.” He ended his column rather defensively by saying—“I repeat: Terrence Farrell, who advises the Prime Minister said so.”
What is emerging is a political chasm between government and labour over the question of the “sale of assets” proposed by the Minister of Finance in the budget statement on October 5 last, and the growing insecurity of the trade unions over where the Government really stands on the issue. That insecurity is fuelled by Farrell’s position of influence in relation to the ear of the Prime Minister and his public comments in newspaper columns that confirm his ideological position. The trade unions have conveniently used Anthony Wilson as their target for advertising their displeasure with any such move to sell the “crown jewels.” However, Wilson is not the real target. The real showdown will come when a specific “asset” is named for privatization. That will test the political will of the Government and their MOU with the JTUM. Farrell and David Abdulah may split the Economic Advisory Board on this issue.