Senior Reporter
rhondor.dowlat@guardian.co.tt
As the deadline for Inland Revenue Division (IRD) and Customs and Excise Division (CED) workers to decide on whether they will join the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA) passed yesterday, many employees remained uncertain about their future.
Contacted on the final day, acting Minister of Finance Allyson West said she could not give any idea yet of how many workers had responded.
“Today is the deadline; the day hasn’t yet ended, so there’s no way I can answer that accurately. We’ll need to give the employees time to submit their positions today and then give the TTRA time to tally the numbers and categorise them,” West said.
With the July 31 deadline upheld by the Privy Council, workers faced pressure to make a decision amidst unresolved issues and a legal challenge on the authority’s constitutionality.
PSA president Leroy Baptiste has criticised the lack of clarity and warned against coercing workers into making uninformed decisions.
As of the day before the deadline, 60 per cent of the 1,200 affected workers had yet to respond, though the majority of those who did respond chose to join the TTRA.
The Privy Council’s decision compels workers to decide whether to join the TTRA, resign from public service, or transfer to another public service office.
The transition to the TTRA has been fraught with concerns about the voluntary separation package and the terms and conditions of employment. Anand Ramlogan SC, who is representing the PSA, urged the Privy Council to consider the workers’ predicament, arguing that it placed them in an “unenviable position.” In contrast, Douglas Mendes, SC, representing the TTRA and the Office of the Attorney General, has assured that workers would not be immediately placed based on their decisions until the final appeal is determined in October.
The PSA has advised its members to comply with the deadline while awaiting the Privy Council’s decision. The union remains anxious about the outcome and plans to issue further guidance to its members.
As the deadline passed yesterday, the situation remained tense, with workers caught between legal proceedings and the pressing need to secure their employment futures.
Baptiste noted that while he was yet to receive the final figures on how many workers responded, the exercise of a choice does not necessarily mean choosing the TTRA.
“I understand that no more than 20 to 25 per cent of those who made a choice decided on transferring to TTRA. And, no more than 40 per cent succumbed to the pressure to choose something by the deadline,” Baptiste said.