Union leaders push for labour reform and law enforcement

Nirvan Maharaj -
Nirvan Maharaj -

President general of the All Trinidad General Workers Union (ATGWU) Nirvan Maharaj said serious legislative amendment is the only way to liberate workers. He called on Labour Minister Stephen Mc Clashie to give workers the protection of the law.

But secretary general of the Communication Workers Union Clyde Elder said while there are laws, what is lacking is enforcement. He said 2021 the unions must wage a battle for enforcement so people can be held accountable and make a jail for flouting the laws.

Elder said while his union has settled negotiations with TSTT up to 2019, the company wanted to pay the retroactive salary over a seven-year period, while its parallel company Amplia was reportedly paying bonuses of $200,000.

He said, similarly, workers at Hilton Hotel who were earning less than $5,000 a month, were facing the axe, yet new telephones for three managers were bought for $40,000.

“If that is not a crime against workers, I don’t know what is,” Elder said.

Maharaj charged, “We are seeing a deliberate, organised and systemic manner in which companies are creating scenarios to ensure a reduction of the labour force through frustration, duress and the continued exploitation of workers.”

Alongside this, Maharaj said, at a rally of the umbrella union organisations on Friday, employers are varying the terms and conditions of workers, circumventing registered legal collective agreements, forcing workers to multi-task without adequate compensation and retrenching and laying off workers at their whim and fancy.

He said the time had come for the trade union movement to create a united and powerful political lobby to force politicians to amend existing legislation to protect workers.

“We have to call on the Labour Minister and by extension the government to give workers the protection of the law.”

He advocated for amendment to the Industrial Relations Act, the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act and the Companies Act ,

He said such amendments would ensure “workers are placed on the top of the list of creditors in the event of a wind-up of a company to ensure that company cannot use full retrenchment to escape their financial obligation to workers.

He also called for the creation of an indemnity fund which foreign companies must contribute to in order to provide terminal benefits to workers in the events of the wind-up of a company and or the upholding of nay judgements made against these companies by TT’s legal jurisdiction

Clyde Elder -

Workers like the steelworkers would not be left in limbo, but can access these funds as smooth transition until they find other employment, he said.

Elder agreed, saying the Hilton company could pack up its bags and leave the same way Arcelor Mittal left, leaving workers in the same precarious situation.

Maharaj said reform of the Registration, Recognition and Certification board is also needed since unions often face the daunting task of applications for recognition taking years to process and in some cases recognition being granted after some companies have closed down

“The process must take no longer than three months.”

Speaking on the same virtual platform, president of the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Antonia De Freitas said she had had enough of the disrespect meted out to workers and their union by employers.

“TT was built on the back of workers. Society was developed because of the efforts of our educators.

In addition to legislative reform, TTUTA called on the Ministry of Education to fulfil its obligation under the Education Act (Section 74 E and 63(1) to meet and treat with them on teachers’ terms and conditions of employment relating to their return to school.

“Nobody outside the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) and the union have the jurisdiction in that regard.

“It is unfathomable the Minister of Education would suggest that Cabinet would be approached on issues affecting terms and conditions of teachers rather than having such discussion take place between TTUTA as the recognised majority union and the CPO as the employer.

“Smoke in front, fire behind,” she warned.

Comments

"Union leaders push for labour reform and law enforcement"

More in this section