12 hours ago
1
There is a dangerous illusion in T&T that workers are protected, as on paper, and the Industrial Relations Act (IRA) stands as a proud pillar of fairness. The Industrial Court is well respected, its judges experienced, and its rulings are often thoughtful and grounded in equity. Trade unions remain vocal, organised and deeply embedded in the struggle for justice.
However, there is the uncomfortable truth and not alleged but a fact … What good is justice if no one is forced to obey it?
Trade unions, on behalf of workers in this country, represent them by filing disputes. We can endure years of hearings, submissions, adjournments and legal arguments. Then, in some instances, after long, exhausting battles, we win. The court rules in favour of the union and compensation is awarded; reinstatement is ordered and finally benefits are ordered to be paid.
However, the elephant in the room is the “silent crisis of non-compliance,” wherein across sectors, a troubling pattern has emerged, not now but for years, one that is rarely spoken about loudly enough.
Employers who lose in the Industrial Court are increasingly and disingenuously delaying payments indefinitely, ignoring orders outright, restructuring operations to avoid liability and even closing down entities only to re-emerge in another form. Then, to the worker and the union, it becomes “winning but still losing.”
Let us now picture a worker who is wrongfully dismissed, they fought for justice, having years passed and the court rules in their favour but the employer “refuses to comply.” The waiting period starts all over, with the union now pursuing enforcement through their own pockets while legal costs mount, and the worker is expected to “pay dues.”
In some cases, the company disappears altogether, the worker is left with a judgment… and nothing else. This is not justice but a broken system.
The real burden falls on workers and unions. The industrial relations system was never designed for trade unions to become debt collectors, yet that is precisely what is happening, as unions are now forced to chase employers for compliance. Several trade unions have been actively engaged in filing additional proceedings, absorbing legal and administrative costs and having to re-litigate matters that were already decided.
In the interim, workers already wronged are pushed into further financial hardship, since bills do not wait, family responsibilities do not pause and life definitely does not stop because an employer refuses to comply with a court order.
The IRA can be best described as an archaic law in a modern economy, with the uncomfortable reality of the Industrial Relations Act being outdated where it matters most i.e. enforcement. The fines for non-compliance are laughably low, economically insignificant and completely ineffective as a deterrent. For some employers, it is cheaper to ignore the court than to obey it. That should sink in for all and sundry as a fact, not fiction.
In T&T, it can be financially smarter to defy justice than to comply with it. A dangerous precedent has been set and clear messages/questions are being sent, some of which are: Is it that the Industrial Court can be ignored?; Are workers’ rights negotiable?; and Can justice be seen as optional for those with resources?
This is not just an industrial relations issue. It is a rule of law issue. Who is above the rule of law? When court orders are treated as suggestions, the entire legal system begins to erode.
This is a loophole industrial relations, where we are now witnessing persons winning cases but employers then delaying the payment by dragging the process out and even possibly restructuring the company.
And the penalties for recourse? Best described in three words as minimal, predictable and manageable.
There is no real fear of consequence but we must vehemently state quite pellucidly that the time for serious reform is NOW. This cannot continue, for if T&T is serious about fairness in the face of infractions and justice, then the law must evolve urgently.
Justice must be felt through fines that hurt and should be indexed to inflation and scaled to company size. We should now clamour for automatic enforcement mechanisms, not a second round of litigation at the expense of workers and unions. There should also be personal liability for directors who deliberately evade orders an protection against companies dissolving to avoid obligations. In summary, unions are calling for a system where ignoring the court is not an option.
We believe that respect for the Industrial Court cannot be requested; it must be compelled, for without enforcement, we are seeing rights becoming symbolic, judgments becoming paper rulings only and justice being seen as barely theoretical.
T&T does not suffer from a lack of laws, but from a lack of consequences. Until those challenges are changed, the balance in industrial relations will remain a myth and sadly, the question every worker will continue to ask will be “If even the court cannot protect me, then who will?”
Equity aids the vigilant, not the indolent.
English (US) ·