President of the Trinmar branch of the OWTU Ernesto Kesar, left, shakes hands with Douglas Johnson, right, while Marlon Butcher, centre, looks on. Johnson and Butcher won an industrial dispute in the Industrial Court in San Fernando, yesterday. PHOTO: Innis Francis

State-run oil company, Petrotrin, has been ordered to pay compensation to former senior Trinmar employees, Marlon Butcher and Douglas Johnson, after they challenged their 2006 dismissals. Yesterday, Industrial Court vice-president Gregory Baker ruled the dismissals breached the principles of good industrial relations. The judge, in his 13-page written ruling on the trade dispute, said: “The termination of these workers was effected in circumstances that were harsh and oppressive and not in accordance with the principles of good industrial relations practice.”

Butcher, of Cocoyea, and Johnson, of Gasparillo, sought the court’s intervention after they were dismissed following allegations they breached procedure in buying materials and breached the company policy on accepting gifts. It was stated they had received a gift of airline tickets to Texas to attend a conference. Yesterday the men, flanked by relatives and Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union officials, said they were satisfied with the court’s ruling. Butcher said: “I feel vindicated and I feel now the company should look inwardly and look at the processes to determine what they are doing incorrectly.

“They should consider workers and their families and put people first, rather than their own agendas on the table.” Johnson said he had difficulty finding employment following his dismissal from Petrotrin. “It’s unfortunate but what I have been through for the past four years has basically destroyed my life, my career, my reputation. I feel vindicated from the court’s decision,” the father of two said. He added: “It’s easy to destroy people’s lives out of pure carelessness, recklessness and a simple mistake made by people in the company who think they know everything.”

The workers were represented by attorney Derek Ali, while Petrotrin was represented by Ernest Koylass, SC, and Florence Mulchansingh.
In 2006 the men held senior positions at Trinmar’s purchasing department. On October 4, 2006, they were informed of alleged wrong-doing under the procurement irregularities and breach of conduct/conflict of interest policies and suspended with pay, pending investigation. The suspension was extended and they later were informed by letter their services would be terminated.
Baker said the dismissal was written in “broad general terms” as were the charges against the men.

Baker said: “The allegations made against these workers were indeed serious and merited full and thorough investigation. “No employer can be expected to do less. It is unfortunate that what may have been an excess of zeal led to fairness being compromised.” He added: “A parlour-keeper and a major conglomerate must both be fair, but their resources may cause different manifestations of fairness.”

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OWTU Petrotrin Trinmar branch president Ernesto Kesar says “heads must roll” after the state-run oil giant was deemed to have acted “harsh and oppressive” in the dismissal of two senior employees. Kesar, who was in court yesterday, said: “We are calling for justice on both sides now. Justice has been served in the courts and we are now calling on Petrotrin to deal with these rogue managers and let justice be served.” He said the ruling “is a landmark victory for the OWTU.”

He added: “These two comrades are two very senior comrades in Petrotrin/Trinmar and what has happened (yesterday) has proven that the union was right all along.” The dismissal of Butcher and Johnson, he said, “was based on assumptions, lies, half-truths and innuendoes.” Kesar said OWTU was calling on “Petrotrin to discipline those managers because they have cost (the company) lots of money. “They have cost Petrotrin legal fees and they have cost the entire operations to run inefficiently because of short staff,” he added.