One day after the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) described last month's comments at a Chamber of Commerce panel discussion on the Industrial Court as "a very serious contempt of court," the institution summoned CEO of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the chamber itself to court on the matter.
The summons was issued by the registrar of the Industrial Court and witnessed by president of the Court, Deborah Thomas-Felix.
Gabriel Faria, the chamber and two other men were issued with summons to appear before the Court on a charge of contempt of court, over statements made from the floor by businessman Frank Mouttet.
According to the summons, Faria is to appear before the court on December 20 and is required to produce "original and three (3) copies of all reports, interviews, inserts, programmes, audio visual clips and CCTV footage in prints and electronic, inclusive of blogs, and commentary pertaining to a breakfast meeting held by the Chamber on November 30, under the theme "The Impact of Industrial Court Judgements on your Business."
At the event, Mouttet said the Industrial Court was to be blamed for decreased levels of productivity in the country, which was making it increasingly difficult for employers to terminate workers. Mouttet was also said to have hinted that the court was harsh and oppressive towards employers while favouring workers and their representative unions.
Media reports claimed Mouttet suggested the court had made retrenchment into a business, whereby employees were now "lining up to be fired" in order to receive compensation.
The panellists at the chamber event included attorney Derek Ali, Professor Rose Marie Belle Antoine, dean at UWI 's Faculty of Law and industrial relations consultant Harigobin Jhinkoo. The feature speaker was Industrial Court Judge Patrick Rabathaly.
According to JTUM's full-page ad, which was published in Wednesday's T&T Guardian, Mouttet's comments "show not only a complete misunderstanding of the Court, but also a gross disrespect for such an important institution, which was created by statute to mediate and provide some level of stability to the industrial relations climate in our country."
In its advertisement, JTUM also noted that at an another event at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business in May, members of the business community "wanted sweeping changes to the Industrial Court."
The ad noted: "Repeatedly, speakers portrayed the Industrial Court as an obstacle to their ability to run their businesses profitably and maintain the necessary discipline, claiming that the judgements coming out of the Court favoured the worker at the expense of the employer and the survival of the business as a going and profitable enterprise."
JTUM reiterated its position as representing the interests of workers.
"We wish to state boldly and without fear of condemnation or criticism, that standing up for the rights of workers, the poor and dispossessed is not bullying."
Questioned about the summons yesterday, Faria acknowledged receipt of it, but refused to comment on the matter.
He said, "I have received a summons from the Industrial Court. That's the only comment I am allowed to make, based on instructions from my attorneys."
Asked via text message to comment on the summons, Minister of Labour and Small Enterprise Development, Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, said she was unaware of the matter.
She said: "I am not aware of this development. Allow me to investigate and I will revert to you as soon as I have the information."
The 12 edition of Osborn's Concise Law Dictionary, published in 2013, states: "The offense of contempt of court consists of conduct which interferes with the administration of justice or impedes or perverts the course of justice.
"Contempt may be civil or criminal. Civil contempt consists of a failure to comply with a judgement or order of a court or the breach of an undertaking to the court. Whilst being termed civil contempt, the offence is criminal in nature.
"Criminal contempt is a wider concept and encompasses activities both inside and outside the court. Such contempt may take the form of interrupting court proceedings, refusing to answer questions before a court without lawful excuse or scandalising the court."
The ninth edition of Stroud's Judicial Dictionary, published in June 2016, makes the point: "Contempt of court may include conduct which, while it cannot influence the judge's mind, is calculated to affect the conduct of parties to proceedings, e.g. by causing them to discontinue or compromise existing actions or to abstain from commencing actions in which they are entitled to succeed."
But Stroud's also states: "No wrong is committed by any member of the public who exercises the ordinary right of criticising, in good faith, in private or public, the public act done in the seat of justice."
And Stroud's also quotes the famous Ambard case, which involved T&T litigants in the 1930s: "Justice is not a cloistered virtue; she must be allowed to suffer the respectful, even though outspoken, comments of ordinary men."