It is more than a little disturbing that the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago, having entertained contempt of court allegations brought by the Joint Trade Union Movement against the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, simply dismissed the matter because of the failure of JTUM to provide substance to support its claims.
The outcome is aggravated by the fact that JTUM had two years and eight months to muster an argument as to how the chamber held the court in contempt.
The union grouping surely deserves some measure of sanction for wasting the time of the court, slandering the “good name” of the chamber and that of its two members and a private citizen. Both the chamber and the individuals must have incurred costs to prepare their cases to respectfully represent their original contentions that chamber members and employers have received “wholly unfair” decisions of the court. In fact, the chamber is reported as saying it spent close to $.5m on in legal fees in defending their case.
More importantly, the decision of the court to discontinue hearing of the allegations against the chamber, robs the practice of industrial relations in Trinidad and Tobago of discussions on the issue and a definitive ruling on the contempt allegations.
Effectively, the dismissal ruling leaves employers, trade unions, attorneys practicing in the Industrial Court and clients who go before the court to contend for their claims and the general public, without guidance on how they should prosecute their contentions against the court when they believe they have suffered, and so too productivity in the economy, because of unfair decisions.
Apart from the above, and as contended by the TTCIC in its reaction to the unresolved discontinuance decision of the court, the question remains as to whether or not “the court should have the right to be judge and jury in a matter related to its own impartiality?”
For all citizens, the mere dismissal of the contempt claim leaves the average individual wondering about the democratic right to free speech and to quote the chamber: “Where, for example, is the line drawn between freedom of expression and contempt? Isn’t free speech a basic tenet of a functioning democracy?”
In his reaction to the T&T Guardian for a comment on JTUM’s failure to support its claims in court, president of the umbrella labour body, Ancel Roget, merely promised a response at the “appropriate time” from JTUM’s attorneys. At a minimum, that cannot be too much of a response on a matter that JTUM considered so important that it brought contempt charges against the TTIC.
The natural and inevitable follow-on must be an open public discussion on the functioning of the Industrial Court and the bases for the renewal of the court.