Espinet: Trade unions outdated

A DAY after the Industrial Court granted an injunction to the OWTU, against Petrotrin’s retrenchment of workers, the state-owned oil company’s Chairman Wilfred Espinet has told a radio call-in show that the Industrial Court and trade unions are outdated and out of touch with realities on the ground.

At the time, Espinet was speaking as a call-in guest on a talk show hosted on radio i95. 5 FM yesterday morning.

“We may want to review the Industrial Relations Act, we may want to do a number of things because the court has gone into a stage now where it may not be relevant to the context of what’s going on,” Espinet said.

Adding that he did not have a problem with any trade union, Espinet said there is a problem, “when some of what we are doing does not make sense.”

When a court rules that the financial situation of a company should not impact on the decision making process, “then something is wrong.”

On Monday, President of the Industrial Court Deborah Thomas-Felix granted the OWTU its injunction against the company, restricting the further termination of employees and even the issuance of voluntary separation letters. The injunction will remain in effect until the issue of the closure of the state-owned company is fully ventilated in the court or if the company successfully appeals the decision.