An industrial relations storm is slowly brewing in the county and could end in a full-blown crisis for workers within the next six months.
Industrial relations expert Gerard Pinard yesterday said that last year's mass dismissals at the Telecommunication Services of T&T (TSTT) and the shutdown of Petrotrin have set a gloomy stage for workers in the coming months. TSTT sent home 503 workers while Petrotrin sent home 4,800.
Pinard, in an interview with Guardian Media yesterday, projected a "fiery year" filled with more company downsizing, more job losses, and more blows to the already beleaguered trade union collective. Pinard, the chief executive officer at recruitment company Zatopek Solutions Inc, blamed the coming industrial relations breakdown on the Government.
"I am hoping that the Government will get its act together and get cracking," Pinard said.
He said the Government has failed to put things in place to properly stem the coming tide.
"One of my biggest concerns is the almost lack of care that is being placed by the Government on the institutions that are there to take care of the industrial relations fallout, mainly the Ministry of Labour, the Registration, Recognition and Certification Board (RRCB), and the Industrial Court. I think these are all being neglected very seriously and that is going to have severe consequences for us as we try to address the industrial relations problems that are bound to come," he said.
The RRCB, according to the Ministry of Labour's website, was established to "deal exclusively with the recognition of a trade union by an employer and matters incidental hereto".
The RRCB has had no chairman since February of last year and, therefore, cannot give a ruling on any matters brought before it since then.
Pinard said, "That's just totally unacceptable. The Industrial Court and the Ministry of Labour are clamouring for human resources and finances so they could do their jobs properly. So far it appears that the Government has had a deaf ear towards these issues."
Underlying motive to bust up unions?
Pinard agreed that the Government's lack of urgency in dealing with these matters could indicate an underlying motive to bust up the unions.
"I really don't want to come to that conclusion because that would be such a backward step. But it really makes you wonder sometimes if it is not quite deliberate because there is no reason why some of these things cannot be addressed. I mean there is no logical reason why there is no chairman at the RRCB for the past ten months. That's just total negligence or wanton disregard for the state of industrial relations," he said.
"But I'm afraid I don't see any signs of hope for an improvement in the employment situation or the industrial relations climate. I think that the impact of the Petrotrin and the TSTT retrenchment are going to be felt more and more as the year progresses.
"I don't think we've felt the full impact of that as yet but I expect that that will come into play around the middle of the year and particularly affecting south Trinidad.
"Unfortunately, because of the economic situation, I can foresee further downsizing in organisations and further retrenchment to come and hopefully the Government is going to or should be thinking about putting measures in place to deal with the fallout from those things. So far there has not been much."
Pinard believes that the trade union movement would have to amp up its approach in order to remain relevant and successful.
"I think we are going to see a more and more aggressive trade union body having to fight back against these retrenchments. I suspect it is going to be a fiery year.
"The unions would have to get a lot more creative and innovative in terms of running their business. Clearly, it cannot be dependent on the dues of the members as it had been in the past. With declining membership, they're going to have to get more creative about the business that they are in and perhaps looking to provide other services than just representation," he said.
Pinard did not believe that the trade unions were to blame for the dismissals at TSTT and Petrotrin He said that strong trade unions could take advantage of lazy employers but employers tended to blame the unions when things go wrong.
"It's a convenient excuse for them to either blame the trade union or blame the ministry or blame the court for what really is the absence of management," he said.
Pinard said with all that he forecasted in the coming months, the most worrying was the lack of a chairman to oversee matters at the RRCB.
Attempts to reach Joycelyn Andrea Froncois, CEO of the Employers' Consultative Association (ECA) and Keston Nancoo, chairman of the ECA proved unsuccesful.
Importance of the RRCB?
A former director at the RRCB, Seeram Ken Maharaj yesterday spoke with Guardian Media about its role.
"The RRCB is an important factor in all industrial relations matters. When people hear industrial relations, they tend to think of the trade unions, but there is much more than that," Maharaj said.
He said the RRCB also deals with matters forwarded to it by the Ministry of Labour and the Industrial Court regarding employee/employer issues.
Maharaj also served as a director at the Employers Consultative Association (ECA) and was a deputy chairman of the National Insurance Board (NIB)
"The RRCB is a very important institution and one that is integral in fixing the current industrial relations climate," he said.