Kenneth Dalip spoke in his private capacity as an industrial relations consultant when he said last Tuesday that the labour bill of Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) is 32 per cent. A statement issued yesterday regarding the article that appeared in the April 4 issue of the T&T Guardian said: "The Chamber wishes to advise that the views expressed in that article were those of Kenneth Dalip in his personal capacity as an industrial relations consultant, and not those of the chamber.
Dalip was not acting as a representative of the chamber in those discussions and did not speak on behalf of the chamber at that interview. "The chamber wishes to make it clear that we do not share the opinions expressed by Dalip in the article. We have every assurance that Dalip will confirm that he spoke solely in his personal capacity."
The T&T Chamber said it has called for Section 65(1) of the Industrial Relations Act to be applied in this prolonged period of strike action at TCL, "as we believe that a quick resolution of the situation is in the "national interest." "We believe that there needs to be a clear definition in the Act as to what is defined as 'national interest,' and that there should be a clear shift in the mechanisms used to resolve industrial relations issues in T&T," read the statement.