Indarsingh calls on labour minister to explain

Former trade union leader and Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh has called on Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus to explain a decision to rescind a trade dispute which prevented a trade union from seeking the intervention of the Industrial Court on behalf of one of its members.

On Monday, High Court judge Justice Frank Seepersad quashed a decision to rescind a certificate of unresolved dispute which prevented Mitoonlal Persad from arguing his matter, through the Sanctuary Workers’ Union (SWU), at the Industrial Court. Seepersad said the decision to rescind the certificate because of a spelling error was irrational, unreasonable and unduly disproportionate.

In a media release yesterday, Indarsingh said the revocation of the unresolved dispute to have the matter move to the next stage of the grievance procedure under the Industrial Relations Act to the Industrial Court reflects the “continued incompetence of the minister and clearly reflects that she is unfit to hold this office.”

He said the errors could have been “easily rectified by amending the records of the party to the dispute” and that her actions demonstrate that Baptiste-Primus, who once headed one of the country’s largest trade unions (the PSA), is “unfamiliar with the grievance procedure under the IRA.”He said the minister must clear the air on whether her "high-handed" action was "out of political spite and malice,” as the Sanctuary Workers' Trade Union is headed by Devant Maharaj, a former People’s Partnership minister and outspoken critic of the PNM administration.