Roget testifies: Petrotrin met union in ‘bad faith’

President general of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget was in the hot seat yesterday as the subject of an intense cross-examination by Petrotrin attorney Reginald Armour, SC, during the first hearing on an industrial relations offence (IRO) that the union alleges the company committed.

Armour began his cross-examination shortly after 1 pm with a series of questions on the OWTU’s meetings with Petrotrin’s officials since January 27, including what was discussed and agreed upon during these meetings.

Referring to one particular meeting with Petrotrin’s representatives at the Maraval Room at the Hilton Trinidad on August 8, Roget expressed confusion over why the company continued to meet and ostensibly entertain ideas for restructuring with the union even as it distributed termination letters.

He described this as a meeting in “bad faith” and accused Petrotrin of using delay tactics against the union.

“I could not understand that (meetings), because every time we meet, they (Petrotrin) would say that their plan to shut the company down is already in train and they are not turning back. In fact, they said that the trigger has already been pulled and that you cannot un-pull a trigger, so the process has started...the process of terminating the employees, while they merely entertained some of our discussions.

“So while they said to us one thing, another thing was going on, and that to me was bad faith.”

In reply to questions from Armour, Roget said while the union met with the company several times during the year, the two sides were unable to reach an agreement on the company’s future.

Roget said on each occasion he met with the company, he asked officials to halt all closing operations. This was met with objection from Armour, who contended that this did not correspond with witness statements on different meetings.

During his examination of Roget, OWTU attorney Douglas Mendes criticised Armour for his cross-examination technique, saying it was too lengthy. Armour contended that it was necessary and told Mendes if he had somewhere else to be, he should ask the court to excuse him.

The trial continues today, as Armour seeks to round off his cross-examination of Roget and move on to OWTU’s chief education officer Ozzie Warwick.

Mendes is expected to cross-examine of Petrotrin chairman Wilfred Espinet and permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance Vishnu Dhanpaul.

If the court rules in favour of the OWTU, the union and Petrotrin will have return to negotiations on the company’s future.