The National Trade Union Centre of Trinidad and Tobago has taken serious note of the statement issued by the Office of the Attorney General on 7th June, 2026, indicating the Government’s intention to seek parliamentary approval for a further three-month extension of the State of Emergency.
Recent reporting has also confirmed that the current State of Emergency is due to end at midnight on 17th June, 2026. NATUC recognizes that any government has a duty to protect the safety and security of its citizens.
However, that responsibility must never be used as a justification for the prolonged restriction of constitutional freedoms, democratic participation, and the legitimate voice of workers and citizens.
The continued extension of emergency powers raises grave concerns for NATUC. Emergency rule must never become normalized. What is presented as temporary must not be allowed to evolve into a standing feature of governance.
NATUC is especially concerned about the effect of the State of Emergency on the rights of workers, trade unions, civil society organizations, and ordinary citizens to peacefully assemble, express dissent, associate freely, and protest lawfully.
These rights were not gifted to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. They were won through struggle, sacrifice, courage, and collective action. For decades, the labour movement has exercised its democratic right to protest peacefully and responsibly at key national locations, including Whitehall, the Red House, the Office of the Prime Minister, Government Ministries, Parliament Buildings, State Agencies, Regional Corporations, and public institutions across Trinidad and Tobago. These spaces have long formed part of the democratic landscape of our Republic.
To restrict access to these traditional spaces of public expression is to weaken the very foundation of democracy. A nation cannot claim to defend law and order while silencing the lawful voices of its people.
As Trinidad and Tobago approaches Labour Day on 19th June, NATUC reminds the nation of the legacy of Captain Arthur Andrew Cipriani, Tubal Uriah “Buzz” Butler, Adrian Cola Rienzi, and the countless workers who stood courageously against injustice, exploitation, inequality, and oppression.
Their sacrifices helped secure the rights, freedoms, and dignity that workers and citizens enjoy today. NATUC therefore calls on Parliament, all political parties, independent senators, civil society, religious bodies, and citizens of conscience to carefully scrutinize any proposed extension of the State of Emergency.
The Government must provide clear, transparent, and compelling justification for any continuation of emergency powers. Any such measures must be: necessary, proportionate, time-bound, transparent, accountable, and respectful of constitutional freedoms.
NATUC further calls for full public disclosure on the effectiveness of the State of Emergency to date. The people of Trinidad and Tobago have a right to know whether these extraordinary measures are producing measurable results, or whether they are merely placing long-standing democratic freedoms at risk without addressing the root causes of crime, insecurity, and social breakdown.
National security cannot be built on the weakening of democracy. Public safety cannot come at the permanent expense of civil liberties. The protection of citizens must go hand in hand with the protection of their constitutional rights. NATUC remains firm in its position: security and democracy must coexist.
The protection of one must never become the sacrifice of the other. The National Trade Union Centre of Trinidad and Tobago will continue to defend workers’ rights, promote social dialogue, stand against injustice, and safeguard the democratic principles upon which our Republic was built.
AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL.
Michael Annisette
General Secretary
