ANTI-WORKER GOVERNMENT

THE legal injunction forcing port workers back on the job is another blow against the working masses by the Government.

As it did against teachers two years ago, the Government last week asked the Industrial Court to grant an ex-parte injunction instructing port workers to pick back up their tools.

Prior to the Rowley Administration, injunctions were hardly ever used against workers, and, when it was enforced, it pertained to essential employees or urgent and critical circumstances.

Injunctive relief is a legal tool seldom implemented against workers in modern democracies.

International legal and labour experts have urged the respective authorities to be cautious about using injunctions to force workers back on the job.

They say it undermines the established bargaining process.

The Port Authority petitioned the court to block workers from staying off the job.

The workers withheld their labour to show frustration at the long-outstanding pay talks.

Almost a decade ago, the Port Authority and Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Trade Union (SWWTU) negotiated a 12 per cent wage hike.

But the Rowley Government ruled that the collective agreement was illegal and not enforceable.

Last week’s injunction does not resolve the pay issue.

The odds against a fair deal for the port workers have not gotten larger.

While the cost of living galloped over the years, bargaining between the employer and trade union dragged on.

The workers’ absence from the job inevitably affected the movement of goods.

But instead of compromising and concluding a pay deal, the Government threw the law book at the workers.

It was a case of using a sledgehammer to kill a fly.

But this is typical of an administration that has presided over the worst unemployment rate since the 1980s.

Public officers were cornered into accepting a four per cent pay increase to cover a decade.

Tripartite talks involving workers and employers have been scrapped, and the wealth gap is expanding.

Deborah Thomas-Felix was not reappointed as Industrial Court President after big business complained about her rulings.

The shutdown of Petrotrin six years ago has had a devastating effect on workers and small businesses.

The Government has exploited a weak and divided labour movement, which has been unable to marshal workers in opposition to anti-worker measures.

The legal measures against the port workers led to furious outbursts from trade unionists and threats to mobilise public demonstrations.

But the current cadre of union men has been reduced to paper tigers, powerless to drum up support against repressive actions by the authorities.

One example is that when the administration railroaded the four per cent pay increase for public officers, unionists grumbled and meekly accepted the package.

In previous years, charismatic labour leaders led affected employees and supporters of the working class in aggressive public protests.

In addition, the weak state of the national economy has made workers vulnerable to job loss and exploitation.

With the Government using the courts instead of the negotiating table to resolve labour rows, the state of affairs for workers is even more troubling.