Although there have been calls from certain quarters for the Industrial Court to be restructured or removed, the majority of people asked about the issue in a recent Market Facts and Opinions (MFO) survey do not share those views.
A clear majority—53 per cent—agreed that there is a need for the Industrial Court, while only 29 per cent disagreed. They were polled on the issue when the Industrial Court granted an injunction to the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) against Petrotrin and again when it was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
A breakdown of the MFO data showed that 16 per cent of the respondents strongly agreed on the need for the Industrial Court, ten per cent strongly disagreed and 18 per cent were neutral on the issue.
These were among findings of an independent survey done by MFO to gauge public opinion on the Petrotrin issue which has been dominating major news since late August when Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced plans to wind up the operations of the refinery and send home all of the employees of the State-owned energy company.
The survey showed that as a trending story, the Petrotrin issue generated great interest in south Trinidad. Tobago was unconcerned and, with the exception of Port-of-Spain, there was less interest along the East-West Corridor.
Among the key findings were that 64 per cent of respondents felt the refinery should not be closed. A significantly small proportion—23 per cent—felt it should not be shut down and one in ten people were unsure of what was the best decision.
The MFO report stated: “Persons who felt that the refinery should be closed, tended to express a sense of optimism about the country and to be of high socioeconomic status. They were more likely to be older (55-64 years), of African or mixed ethnicity and reside in regions less impacted by the decision to be made—Tobago and the East-West Corridor.
“Those who felt that the refinery should not be closed were less optimistic about the future and are young (in the 25-44 years age group, male, and of East Indian ethnicity. As may be expected, those persons largely resided in communities most affected by the Petrotrin pending closure—that is, South Central, South West and Central communities.”
Approximately three in five of the respondents—57 per cent—disagreed with the view that the country would be better off without the Petrotrin refinery.