Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke will be challenged by three candidates in the union’s November 27 election.
However, the outspoken trade unionist who is leading his own slate in the polls, the Game Changers, is not concerned.
“None of these guys have a proven track record in representing workers. They have not even done anything to improve themselves and the workers after eight years or added one certificate to their name. They have done nothing to improve their personal capacity,” he told the T&T Guardian.
Duke said the union needs to be led by someone who is passionate and able to represent the workers.
“I want to appeal to the wider membership that when the government is cutting jobs, raising the cost of living and keeping salaries low, it is not the time to experiment with immature and incompetent persons. Rather it is time for those are tested and proven themselves to be result oriented. It is time for the Game Changers led by Watson Duke,” he said.
One of the challengers, Oral Saunders, of the United Public Officers, said his team wants a united front to unseat Duke.
He said: “The vast majority voted against Duke in 2013 and he was a minority president. There were seven teams who went against him,” he said as he appealed for the membership of the PSA to unite.
Saunders said he has approached other leaders fielding slates in the election and started discussions.
“Our group comprises of former executive officers and activists. We have the most experience in industrial relations and the ability to build and restore the PSA and we are the only group that has that intellectual capacity,” he said.
Team Sentinel is led by Nixon Callender a former Duke ally, who said his team would focus on restructuring, social committees, training, wage negotiations, membership housing and public sector reform.
“Our team has a strategic plan for the PSA which we developed after interviewing the membership over the past four years. This plan was based on their response,” he said.
Although he is not a presidential candidate, Demetrius Harrison is vying for the post of industrial relations officer for Team Fixers, another group that is hoping to unseat Duke in the upcoming polls.
“I was successful against Duke in the High Court. I won that matter and was financially remunerated and was a former trustee,” he said.
“We are about a different type of negotiations than accustomed to where we negotiate for percentage increases and for the merchants move their prices. We want to become more innovative to provide different commodities in terms of stocks and bonds on the open market that public officers can now become investors,” Harrison said.