Public servants protesting over the Judiciary’s impending restructuring exercise are being encouraged to still participate in retraining programmes being offered to them.
Senior Judiciary executives made the call on Tuesday as they addressed the restructuring issue on CNC3’s Morning Brew programme.
Deputy Court Executive Administrator Wendy Lewis-Callender suggested that the training was being offered to existing staff to enable them to have a competitive advantage in applying for new vacancies within the organisation, which would become open in September.
“The Judiciary acknowledges that we have very experienced and knowledgeable staff and we want to retain our knowledgeable workers. The opportunities are going to be endless,” Lewis-Callender said.
Court Executive Administrator Christie Anne Morris-Alleyne claimed that the furore over the planned restructuring was based on misinformation in the public domain.
She claimed that the changes are the result of a combination of new legislation and initiatives introduced by the Judiciary to reduce backlogs in the criminal justice system.
“The point of the matter is that the Judiciary as it is now, especially the Magistrate’s Courts, was really set up for when the big crime was riding a bicycle without a light. Here we are in a situation where things are far more complex and we must retool and re-engineer and add to our staff,” she said.
She claimed that a major issue the organisation was faced with since colonial times was its ability to retain civil servants, who are assigned to the organisation and are trained to perform complex tasks.
“For instance, in our Probate Registry we train staff and no sooner you have trained someone to handle the matters, which are very unique and complex, then they are moved,” she said.
Morris-Alleyne explained that the main position that stands to be affected by the introduction of the Criminal Division and District Criminal and Traffic Courts Act, is that of the clerk of the peace.
She claimed that with legislative developments, people currently holding the acting positions were forced to perform legal duties without being qualified as an attorney.
“What is required of the clerk of peace has become far more intense and legal. In the circumstances, it is not fair to the clerks nor the public,” Morris-Alleyne said.
Asked to address complaints by the Public Service Association (PSA) over the fact that large numbers of the workers would be asked to break their tenure in the public service to take up contract positions, Morris-Alleyne said that they could apply for a leave of absence during the contract period to retain their accrued employee benefits.
She also stated that the contract positions being offered were renewable.
Lewis-Callender also stated that the restructuring plans include the creation of several new units within the magistracy which would translate into more positions for current staff to fill.
Protest action continues
The PSA’s protest action over the proposed began last week with the Judiciary’s operations being severely crippled as staff at courts around T&T staying away from work for two days.
It continued this week with silent morning and lunchtime protests outside the Hall of Justice and the San Fernando High Court. This week’s protest did not have the same effect as last week’s as the operations and services of the court were not adversely affected.
While the Judiciary and the Government has repeatedly stated that no one would lose their jobs in the restructuring, they admitted that those who are not selected for the new positions would be reassigned to other State institutions by the Public Service Commission (PSC).