Treasurer of the Tipper Truckers Association, Anton Laville, reported that local truckers have finally secured employment with the International Airport Project. Members of the Tipper Truckers Association have reportedly been demanding jobs from the government for quite some time.
On Wednesday, October 16, 2024, members of the Tipper Truckers Association blocked the main road in Canefield, demanding more work on government projects, and better wages. They alleged that jobs are given to Chinese truckers while not enough are given to local ones.
The protest essentially cut off the west, north, and eastern parts of the island from the capital, Roseau. The police were quick on the scene and the protest remained largely peaceful, although there were a few scuffles between officers and the protesters. The police, in full riot gear, eventually used tear gas to disperse those present.
During an interview with State-Owned Radio DBS, Laville confirmed that trucks from the association have started hauling cement from the Woodbridge Bay Port at Fond Cole to the new airport site this week.
“Over the past few days after the protest action that took place in Canefield we were negotiating with MMCE [Montreal Management Consultants Est] and the Chinese contractors as to securing employment for our Dominican trucks,” he revealed. “We came to an agreement where we will be hauling 240 tons per day, so this means that the Dominican truckers along with the Chinese will be hauling cement to the airport site.”
Laville thanked the Dominican people for their overwhelming support.
“This has been a very long and tiring process of begging the authorities for employment for the Dominican truckers, we were left with no choice after we took the protest action in Canefield,” he stated.
He continued, “Really and truly sometimes to make an omelette you have to break an egg. For starters, we are a bit pleased and we are excited to see the truckers doing something.”
Laville added, “All we have been asking over the past years was something very simple: just create employment for our truckers.”
Laville admitted that members of the association do not have the best trucks on island, however, he believes the authorities can do much more to assist the Dominicans, “to ensure that we have better trucks.”
“The Prime Minister came forward and said that he will be willing to work with us towards that [and] we hope he keeps his word to ensure that the Dominicans will have better trucks on the road,” he noted.
Meanwhile, at a press briefing held recently, National Security Minister Rayburn Blackmoore extended an apology to persons who were not part of the protest organized by the Tipper Truckers Association but were affected when the police employed tear gas to disperse the crowd.
“I want to commend the police for the extreme demonstration of constraint and decretion,” he said. “I also want to take this opportunity to apologize and to apologize [for] any collateral injury or discomfort that may have been caused by the discharge, quite rightly so, of the tear gas by the police which was not intended to cause any harm to anyone specifically those who were not involved in this violent mob,” he stated.
Blackmoore continued, “I believe all of us [have] this collective responsibility to try to educate and edify the public, those of us who know better on the fundamentals of the laws in so far as to relate to our right to express ourselves, our right to move freely within the public space, and our right to assemble.”
He explained that there is no express provision in the laws of Dominica, namely the constitution, that gives anyone, or any group of people, absolute right to stand on any public road and create an obstruction or to have any meeting; especially within the public space that will cause obstruction to traffic flow, without permission from the commissioner of police.
Furthermore, he asserted that it is every citizen’s duty to ensure that they create an environment that is guarded by order.
“We have to determine what country we want for ourselves and our children,” Blackmoore remarked. “Putting the trucks across the roads and depriving other people to exercise their own right…it’s not only unacceptable, it should not stand.”
He added, “Once you have a meeting and there are some elements of disorder emerging and the police call on you to desist from that and then you revoke deviant acts, you are putting yourself not only [in] legal jeopardy, but you are exposing yourself to injury.”
that’s not a association, their parasites.
making a fortune from those poor drivers.
with 0 cost great .
You and DNO Know we’ll in other jurisdiction the truckers would NEVER block the road,especially in the USA.In the USA if you disrespect somebody you get shot.UWP is famous for disrespecting people.
So they were not getting work and now they are getting after the protest? Fascinating.
Guess
Lin Clown
Gary
and the other Skerrit sycophants must be
red vex, because they
did not want the
truckers to protest against
Skerrit wickedness, evilness and
heartlessness. It is an evil
approach to Dominicans who
want to work.
Take that illiterate Lin Clown, Gary and the other wickeds.
DNO, the members of the Association had long secured work on this International Airport project. They said so themselves. They simply refused the rate that the contractor offered.
It must also be noted that not every trucker is a member of the TTA. So, quite apart from the TTA, other Dominican truckers were already employed on the project.
Here is DNO telling the public,the truckers have finally secured EMPOLYMENT.Later the same DNO is telling the public on October 16 the truckers blocked the road demanding MORE work.Which is which?Everybody have a right to protest but they do not have a right to deny people of their right to go to school and work.They did not block the sites where they were denied employment,according to DNO.The chose to do UWP dirty work and block the road in Canfield.The police WEAK,they should have fired the teargas canisters inside or under the trucks.The same international airport UWP and a $25,000 Jacka jolly said would NEVER be built.I hope the WEAK police charge every trucker with obstruction.That BS where certain people,because of politics can deny the majority of the rights must stop.I hope the Minister of national security recommend the truckers be charged,but again the minister is a bigger Jacka.If the government we voted cannot defend us,we will defend ourselves.
@Lin Clown
@Lin Clown
@Lin Cliwn
Who listens to a man who called himself a clown. But you are not just a clown but an illiterate.
why should we beg for jobs when it is our money they using on projects .
any project under the cbi program, loan or even grants, jobs must be given to Dominican and not outsiders.
also if our trucks or equipment’s are not up to standard why can the contractors not hire our drivers or operators ,why must foreign person be hired to do so , and pls do not say our people are not able to drive their truck or operate their equipment’s
anyway jobs must be Dominican first
its our money so we come first
These truckers were reduced to beggar to work in their own country while foreigners were allowed to completely dominate the trucking business.
Let me repeat this truth. Roosevelt has a penchant for empowering foreigners while creating huge stumbling blocks to impede the economic progress of native people. He gives foreigners caviar with their meals but gives locals bones and Pepper X (the world’s hottest pepper) in their soup.
It is not the Dominican International airport it is the Chinese Air Force international military airport. They do not want local truckers to see what is really going on.
Imagine Dominicans have to beg a foreign contractor for years to get menial work on the largest and most expensive government project in their island. One protester was savagely beaten, others including bystanders and innocent men, women and children were showered with expired teargas.
In other jurisdictions, by law, foreign companies doing business in the country, have to employ a specific percentage of local workers.
The vast majority of Dominicans will remain men docents under Roosevelt’s stewardship. The reason being the awful, divisive, exclusive policies of the ruling oligarchy.
Countries do well when the political and economic institutions allow for the full inclusion of their citizens. Conversely, when most of the locals are excluded from the economic and political institutions, the majority of the people are forced to live below the poverty line. This is exactly what obtains in Dominica today.
Dominica needs a paradigm shift NOW!
Those shameful beggars are truckers who are only concerned about themselves and aren’t interested in a change across the board in this communistic regime. Roosevelt is now satisfied that he has kept them without work and were begging. 80% of these truck drivers are Diehard labor supporters. So don’t feel sorry for them. The Banks should Repo their trucks, and maybe they would have taken a different approach to begging. Feeling like an outcast in your own country is no joke.
More rubbish and propaganda from Ibo France, Dominicans have been employed on the airport project. The issue with the truckers does not mean that Dominicans have not been employed on this project. The truckers with reliable equipment will definitely get work. Mr. Laville I hope you all can satisfy your contracts and it is not plagued by interruptions due to unreliable equipment and an unreliable service program.
Mr. Linton, please explain why you are against the airport project.
It’s insane how you have so many down votes on your comment. You all have to be pretty dense / wicked to not see this as a problem
“This has been a very long and tiring process of begging the authorities for employment for the Dominican truckers, we were left with no choice after we took the protest action in Canefield,” he stated.
That makes me feel like we are still in the days of slavery, though come November 3, we will be celebrating 46 years of independence from Great Britain. Honestly speaking we seem to have gotten more enslaved, especially the last 20 years of Skerrit. This time it’s Skerrit that sold us to China for his own selfish interest.
Mr Laville, why didn’t Roosevelt Skerrit ensure that giving jobs to local truckers was part of the contract negotiations that he signed with MMCE? After the man sold you out to China he had the guts to watch you all protest to get a job and still had the guts to smoke you all with tear gas just for a job? And all you still have the guts to worship Skerrit and the Chinese for enslaving you? Man Skerrit was damn right in saying we not a real country
I don’t understand what took place and really what’s taking place, so I need some bright person to break this down in layman’s language so I could understand.
So Da seems to be building an international airport and Abdullah the contract to his friends? Did any other firm placed a bid? Are the Chinese building it for us with their money or through the sale of our passports? Is it a grant or a loan?
So Abdullah gave the contract to his friends MMCE and bingo contract was signed. So based on the terms of the contract MMCE brought down their heavy equipment and trucks and Dominica Trucks were not in the original plan? So truckers protested for one day, Abdullah addressed them that night, protest ended and two weeks later, less than a week before our independence from Britain, Abdullah caused heads of truckers to be on their knees negotiating with Chinese for a penny bread? Boy Abdullah doing us things Wii. So is that extra money to pay truckers come from treasury or MMCE?
We just heard the voice of Alibaba in the name of truckers. I maintain that what happened on October 16, was nothing but bull crap and I wouldn’t be surprised to know that Mr Alibaba used his friends on the truckers association to plan that protest for him , so that at the end of the day he would be seen as the hero and caring person. Something is telling me that a Alibaba and his forty teeves gangsters planned that so called protest and gave the blueprint to his friends on the Trukers association to carry out for him