While trade unions have welcomed Government’s latest move to stop de-certification action by two State enterprises, labour leaders were standing firm on their position that there will be no peace until all the fired workers are reinstated. During the post-Cabinet press conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, yesterday, Trade and Industry Minister Mariano Browne said Government would instruct the two State enterprises, the Telecommunications Services of T&T (TSTT) and the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC), to withdraw their legal petitions to de-certify their representative trade unions.

Browne said the Government was becoming wary of the progressing tensions of the industrial relations environment in the country, and it did not support the labour unions’ increasingly confrontational behaviour. He said conversely, Cabinet had noted with surprise reports in the media that the two State bodies had taken separate decisions to decertify their unions. He said the line ministers responsible will direct the State enterprises to discontinue the legal action against the unions.He said the Government wanted to send a message that it supported responsible behaviour and it had to step in because the continued tensions between labour and these companies was damaging the economy.

The right to protest
Roland Sutherland, president, Transport and Industrial Workers Union (TIWU), said the labour movement welcomed the move by government, but insisted that it did not go far enough as all the workers were unfairly treated and they must all be reinstated. “There will be no peace and we will not rest until these workers are reinstated.

They are being victimised for a legitimate protest. We had no doubt in our minds that the strike was a legitimate one, and there were no grounds for de-certification. “The working environment continues to be dangerous, and health and safety regulations as well as the Constitution protects our right to protest if we are exposed to a dangerous working environment.

13 PTSC workers fired
“We were initially working in this dangerous environment, despite numerous requests to address the infestation. When we eventually protested, they forced us to go back to work via an injunction. They then laid on the pressure further by firing 13 workers and threatening decertification action. While up to now, the initial problem of the tyres and the mosquito threat are yet to be properly addressed. “After all the workers have been through, how can the Government criticise our behaviour? PTSC still has not dealt with the infestation—the issues that caused the whole situation are still facing the workers today.

“The injunction is still in effect. This needs to be addressed urgently as we are still being forced to work in this unsafe environment. For there to be industrial peace, we must have all the workers reinstated in both companies as there was no justification for their actions in the first place. They cannot take away our right to protest—this is a constitutional right,” Sutherland said.