(Trinidad Express) The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has been given the all clear by the Industrial Court to proceed with its planned restructuring of the organisation.
This comes after the court yesterday dismissed a complaint by the Public Services Association (PSA) against the transformational exercise taking place without its input.
In their ruling, the court’s vice-president Herbert Soverall along with members Lawrence Achong and Albert Aberdeen found that WASA had always indicated its intention to consult with the union at the appropriate time and had met with the PSA on numerous occasions and therefore could not be said to have been acting in bad faith.
The court also found that the authority and Government must be allowed to formulate policy including restructuring plans without the involvement of the PSA.
These were the same findings the court made in March when it dismissed an application for an injunction by the union as it sought to prevent WASA from submitting to Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales any restructuring plan without it first having a say.
The court said those findings were dispositive of the substantive proceedings and therefore, further proceedings were unnecessary in the public’s interest.
In a media release issued yesterday, the authority said: “WASA is grateful to have received the court’s guidance and now that all legal hurdles have been cleared in relation to the restructuring, the authority reiterates its consistent publicly stated position that it intends to and will always comply with the principles of good industrial relations practice throughout the implementation of the restructuring process, including consulting with the Recognised Majority Unions in good faith.”
In its ruling on the injunctive application the court had stated there would have been a great risk of injustice if WASA and the Government were restrained from liaising with each other with a view to formulating any plan or policy for the restructuring or re-organisation of the authority. The judges also pointed out that WASA had invited the PSA to send proposals to engage in collective bargaining and this position was evidence of the willingness of the authority to engage in the process prescribed by law.
“Nothing prevents/debars either party from putting forward proposals generally on matters with a view to engaging in collective bargaining in respect of terms and conditions whether within or without an expired collective agreement,” the court had stated.
Further to that, the judges stated that based on the invitations of WASA to the PSA to put forward proposals, it was safe for the court to conclude that the authority would have no issue with the union making further proposals in the collective bargaining process “if or when” any plan or policy for WASA’s operations was completed.
“This being the case, it means that the association would have achieved its objective and has been satisfied by means other than an injunction,” the court had stated.
