Minister of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development Errol McLeod has referred the wage negotiations between Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) and the Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) to the Industrial Court. A three-month strike by TCL workers ended on Saturday. McLeod made the announcement at a press conference yesterday at the ministry's offices, International Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, after meetings with representatives from the OWTU and TCL. This is first time since the 1983 addition of Section 61, (d) to the Industrial Relations Act that a strike has lasted the entire three-month period defined in the act.
Section 61 (d) states: "The minister shall refer an unresolved dispute to the Court (d) where a period of three months of continuing action has elapsed and there is a request to the minister by either party to refer to the dispute to the Court for final determination."
The OWTU requested the referral at 7.30 am yesterday morning. The referral officially ends industrial action by both the union and TCL, which had enacted lockout action against workers one week after the strike began on February 27. McLeod said he "encouraged a peaceful and orderly resumption of work by all workers who had been on strike." TCL general manager Satnarine Bachew said workers were expected to return to the Claxton Bay and Mayo plants tomorrow. He said the union's demand of a 12 per cent wage increase was unrealistic. "That is why we are where we are, because the union is demanding double digits during this downturn of the economy and the construction sector," he said. TCL has met the union's demand with an offer of 6.5 per cent which has been refused.
Speaking with reporters outside the offices of the Ministry of Labour at the Waterfront Complex, Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget described the 90-day strike as a success because the cost of the strike to the company was many times the cost of a settlement. Roget said the "vast majority" of the TCL workers stayed away from the job during the strike with only 75 workers in the bargaining "scabbing" or breaching the picket line. Questioned about the likely ruling of the Industrial Court in light of TCL's $80 million loss in 2010 and $375 million loss in 2011, Roget said: "I am not going to prejudge the ruling of the Industrial Court except to say that the numbers you alluded to referred to TCL as a group." He said the Trinidad operations of TCL generated gross profits of $250 million, while the operations in Jamaica and Barbados declared losses in the period.