PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Friday July 4, 2014, CMC – The Industrial Court has granted an injunction preventing the Public Services Association (PSA) from taking further industrial action at the Immigration Department ruling that the national interest is being threatened.
The Court in an emergency sitting late Thursday granted the injunction filed by Labour Minister Errol McLeod.
Senior Counsel Russell Martineau told the five-member judges headed by the President of the Industrial Court, Deborah Thomas-Felix that the action being taken by the union was a threat to the country’s national interest.
He said a critical function of the Immigration Department was the issue of deportation.
“There may be people who are allowed to enter the country but may not be permitted to stay,” Martineau said and that in accordance with Section 65 of the Industrial Relations Act he was requesting a stop order in the national interest.
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Section 65 states “Where industrial action is threatened or taken, whether in conformity with this act or otherwise, and the minister considers that the national interest is threatened or affected thereby, he may make an application to the court ex parte for an injunction restraining the parties from commencing or from continuing the action; and the court may make such order thereon as it considers fit having regard to the national interest.”
Martineau said McLeod, a former trade unionist, had “exercised patience” during the action taken by the PSA and had hoped for a solution on Thursday.
The PSA has been shutting down several government departments claiming health and safety reasons but Martineau argued that the union’s claim was a “ruse”.
He said health and safety were not an “imminent threat” which could be evidenced by the PSA’s decision to allow its members to go to work for half a day.
“We are not against workers but every civilised, democratic society knows there is a limit to certain things. This situation is too serious to leave idly by. We virtually have no choice,” Martineau said.
In his affidavit filed in the court, Mc Leod said that it is clear to him that the PSA and its officers, servants or agents “have deliberately embarked upon a course of conduct intended to compel the Government to agree to certain demands in respect of terms and conditions of employment in respect of civil servants without regard to the consequences for the people of Trinidad and Tobago, the national interest, or the provisions of the Immigration Act.
“Having regard to all the circumstances, therefore, I consider that the national interest is threatened or affected by the current industrial action by the Public Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago and its members and I hereby apply to the Honourable Court for the ex parte injunction in the national interest,” he added.
The PSA has 48 hours to respond to the injunction.
Earlier this week, Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley said the current situation of various government offices being shut down by the PSA “is causing unnecessary hardship to citizens of Trinidad and Tobago who require the services of the departments in question”.
The Opposition Leader said he was therefore calling on the government “to immediately take urgent steps to relieve the hardships of our citizens who are being made to suffer by taking appropriate steps to ensure all departments are fully functional to meet the needs of the public”.
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Injunction prevents Trinidad union from shutting down immigration department
