JTUM wants change at Industrial Court

Members of the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) are calling for a change of adjudicators at the Industrial Court for special tribunals, a reform in the Industrial Relations Act and the way the special tribunal is constituted.

They were referring to the four-per-cent wage increase proposed by Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) Dr Darryl Dindial last December to the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), TT Fire Officers Association (FOA), TT Unified Teacher’s Association (TTUTA), Public Services Association and Police Welfare Association.

Jerome Gordon, president of the POA, said, “It is our understanding that those positions have no security of tenure and they are appointed by the Cabinet of TT.”

Speaking at the Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union’s office in Barataria, he claimed there seemed to have been interference in the eventual pronouncements of thecourt.

Gordon added, “We believe it is important now before we enter into future negotiations that these apparent shortfalls be addressed and treated immediately.”

He said the call for immediate change comes as JTUM members are considered essential, but are not treated as such, arguing that no “right-thinking person” could say the prison officers, teachers, fire service and police service are treated fairly.

Gordon said, “We are saying that the special tribunal is just unfortunately, in this case, another piece of machinery designed to place the heel of the state on our necks.”

Adding to Gordon’s comments was Cuthbert C Joseph, treasurer of the TTUTA, who said for the negotiation period of 2014-2019 – in which the proposal represented zero, zero, two, zero, zero, two for each year successively – when negotiations started, TTUTA quickly realised that they were in name only and the values were not honoured.

Joseph said they had already waited ten years to see "some adjustment to salary – and I say adjustment because when somebody has working for 15 and 25 years, I do not know that $200 extra counts as any kind of an impact.”

He added that TTUTA, along with the other association, called for a reform to the Industrial Relations Act and the way the special tribunal is constituted.

Leo Ramkissoon, president of FOA, added, “When you have a special tribunal that is appointed and constituted by the political arm of the state, quite apart and different from other judiciary arrangements where judges are appointed independently, it brings into question whether justice is truly seen to be (done).”

He said the current arrangement brings into question whether or not decisions are in fact independent and free from influence. Ramkissoon added that the FOA’s decision to accept the four per cent was by no means born out of belief that the decision was fair.

“In fact, we are today poorer than we were as workers in the essential services, poorer than we were in 2013. Our decision to accept was born out of a need for us to be able to fight even harder at this time.”

Ramkissoon asked, “I want to ask the political directorate, or the legislators for that matter: if a union had the power to appoint judges to the Industrial Court, would you be comfortable?”

Ancel Roget, president of JTUM, urged everyone to join him on Labour Day for JTUM’s celebrations in Fyzabad.

“Our strength is in numbers. Let’s get the numbers out and push this thing in the right direction. When the dust is clear, we will see what the outcome is,” said Roget.