JTUM: Industrial Court needs $$

THE Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) is calling on the Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and government for the proper resourcing of the Industrial Court so justice can be dispensed in an efficient and timely manner.

JTUM’s president Ancel Roget said its 15 affiliated trade unions have over 2000 matters before the Industrial Court, but workers are being denied justice because the court is woefully under resourced and cannot operate at full capacity.

Some of these matters, he said, date back to four years ago and with new matters coming on stream by employers who have taken advantage of the covid 19 situation to dismiss workers, the system could only erupt.

He said the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) which he leads, has 268 matters involving former Petrotrin workers, which is apart from matters dealing with that company’s eventual closure, plus an additional 251 matters involving some 30 other companies the OWTU represents.

Roget said the same workers the government and country applauded as essential workers a few weeks ago are among those most affected by this impediment.

At a news conference at Paramount Building, San Fernando on Wednesday to address the deficiency in the system, Roget called on the AG to fill some 20 vacancies for clerical workers, transcriptionists and judges.

He reminded him that the purpose of the Industrial Court was established for the purposes of dispensing justice for both employers and employees.

He said the Industrial Court which is parallel to the High Court also lacked basic supplies like ink, photocopying and virtual-conferencing facilities.

He also called on the AG to clear the third floor of the Industrial Court at Port of Spain which is occupied by a different entity, so that the space can be used for its intended purpose.

He said it does not compute that while the matters referred to the court are increasing, the number of judges is either the same or decreasing.

Roget attributed some blame for the clogging of the court on Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus. Due to the ministry’s ineffective conciliation department, he said, matters are not settled there but are sent to the Industrial Court.

“The Ministry of Labour has not functioned as it ought to function over the last five years. There is no resolution of matters that go before the MoL. It is just being used as a conduit to send matters to the Industrial Court.”

He also accused government of being the biggest culprit in terms of matters being referred to the court and its failure to intervene to ensure good industrial relations is practiced at these entities.

He explained that state enterprises hire high-paid HR personnel to interact with the unions to settle disputes, but instead of doing just that to ensure industrial peace and stability at the workplace, those matters were sent to the court for resolution.

“So the government contributes to the attack on the trade union movement and the workers in this country. Regardless of what the collective agreement says, what good industrial relations demands, those people in management at the state agencies are just not doing their jobs. And all these issues feed into the manifold of matters going down to the court which is totally under resourced.”

“If government is serious about the treatment of workers and if people of this country are serious and not just applaud workers and forget them, then join with the TU movement and demand government put resources in place to ensure the court dispenses justice in a timely manner.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Roget asserted.