Hundreds of UNC supporters planning to attend the UNC’s mass rally in Aranguez were left stranded yesterday after protesting bus drivers did not show up for duty.
General manager of the Public Service Transport Corporation (PTSC), Carl Ramdeo, said the UNC hired 200 buses from PTSC at a cost of $400 per hour to transport supporters to and from the rally.
However, he said, PTSC drivers and maintenance workers had been engaged in industrial action for the past two weeks and were adamant that they would not work until they received their $57 million in retroactive pay.
“That money only went into workers’ bank accounts on Friday and it was difficult to turn things around in less than 24 hours,” Ramdeo explained. He also said that some of the buses were awaiting servicing and because the maintenance workers were on strike, the buses could not return to the roads.
“The drivers have been slow in returning to work and some of them did not know who was rostered to work yesterday. Even though the UNC paid in full to use the buses to transport the supporters, many constituencies were without transport,” Ramdeo said.
Among the constituencies affected yesterday were Fyzabad, Moruga/Tableland, Princes Town and Mayaro. By late evening, supporters from Mayaro, Cumuto, Manzanilla, Arima, Oropouche East, Siparia and Caroni East were able to get bus service. (RS)