LABOUR relations have lost a jurist of competence and fairplay with the shock removal of Deborah Thomas-Felix as President of the Industrial Court.
In her 12-year stint at the labour court, Ms. Thomas-Felix distinguished herself with her aptitude, objectivity and audacity.
In fact, it may be her courage and pluck that brought her down since some voices began murmuring when she stood up to the employer class, including during the Covid-19 business shutdown.
She warned employers against using the pandemic “as an excuse to flout the principles and practices of good industrial relations…”
As far back as 2016, the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce accused the Court of bias and challenged the competence of judges.
“It is a matter of who is appointed to the Industrial Court,” said a then-Chamber honcho.
That was a frontal assault on Ms. Thomas-Felix from big business, whose purses have lately fattened with monopolies, food imports (the annual bill has swollen from $4 billion to $7.3 b), property deals, and various other import and trading activities.
While the heavyweights of industry and commerce have always been powerful – the “validating elite,” Lloyd Best described them – they have never been more dominant.
None of this is to subtract from their contribution to labour employment and to the payment of taxes.
It also does not excuse any error in judgment by the court.
The removal of Ms. Thomas-Felix is not a slur on the office of President, which is advised on the matter by the Cabinet.
It is not a slight on new president Heather Seale, who, no doubt, is equipped for the senior judicial post.
But the virtual sacking of the incumbent fits into a pattern of anti-worker hostility by successive PNM administration.
Indeed, the current government attempted to decertify Communication Workers’ Union and Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association.
Decertification is considered a violation of workers’ rights to representation and collective bargaining.
The removal of Ms. Thomas-Felix could lead to the imposition of four per cent salary increases on Public Services Association and National Union of Government and Federated Workers, the two hold-outs against the strong-arming of workers.
With the four per cent pay deal, workers have to face the supermarket, where food prices have shot up by as much as 70 per cent over the past decade.
Some unions that accepted the token increase are now suffering from “buyers’ remorse.”
The undermining of workers has a long and dark history.
The first labour law of independent T&T, Industrial Stabilisation Act (ISA), was dubbed Is Slavery Again.
The successor Industrial Relations Act remains flawed.
The battering of protesting employees in March 1975 – “Bloody Tuesday,” the media termed it – graphically illustrated the government’s view on the working class.
There would now be justifiable concerns about the subversion of the Industrial Court, to follow that of the Central Bank and various other independent institutions.
Eyes are focused on the fate of members of the Integrity Commission.
While independent voices are being undercut, the labour sector remains historically weak, leaderless and politically pliable, and unable to properly agitate for distressed workers.
I have always held high regard for Ms, Thomas-Felix.
Her removal as head of the vital Industrial Court is scandalous and disturbing.
