President general of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget said yesterday that none of the employees suspended by National Petroleum (NP) were on strike and the company was “provoking a fight” it would not be able to sustain. Roget’s claim came even as NP announced yesterday that it had filed a complaint against the union in the Industrial Court and was awaiting a date for the matter to be heard.
Surrounded by a group of union members at NP’s head office at Sea Lots, Port-of-Spain, Roget told the media misleading information was being peddled by management that workers were on strike and it was affecting the company’s operations, which justified the suspensions. He said nothing was further from the truth, adding that the workers who were “unjustly suspended” were not on strike but were standing up in defence of their jobs and a safe working environment.
“They had every right to stand up,” he insisted. More than 40 workers were suspended with pay last Friday after three days of work stoppages. Union representatives claimed they walked out of the head office because they were outraged over an alleged attempt by management to privatise the company. The workers claimed they were being asked to train contractors who would eventually become their replacements.
More workers were suspended on Monday, according to a release from NP, for engaging in an illegal work stoppage at NP’s gantries from August 13-15. Roget yesterday accused the company of violating good industrial relations practices by not meeting with the union before such punitive action was taken. He said all employees covered by a collective agreement had a right to refuse to train contractors who were set to replace them.
He said management’s suspension sentence “made no sense,” since the company claimed workers’ actions adversely affected operations, yet it suspended more than twice the number of workers involved. “The union will leave no stone unturned to ensure justice prevails here,” he said.
Teddy Stapleton, the union’s labour relations officer and second vice-president, also addressed the group, giving an update on the way forward. He said they had written to the Occupational Safety Health Authority (OSHA) about the company’s unsafe practices, written up an industrial relations offence complaint over the company’s failure to meet the union, and sent a letter to the Ministry of Labour about the suspensions.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Stapleton said he had received feedback from the ministry and a date was to be set up for a formal meeting. Roget said the company was using the suspension as a diversion and accused the NP board of being corrupt and having a political agenda. “They want to change the discussion to one of disciplinary action,” he claimed.
The suspensions were meant to confuse matters and move away from the core issues of health and safety and corruption at NP, Roget said to a cheering group of supporters. He said there have been political appointees in management who were “agents in the cabal in the UNC-led People’s Partnership government.” Roget also called on Minister of Labour Errol McLeod to ensure OSHA was doing its job, reminding him that he once stood in the union’s present position, fighting against corruption.
Calls to McLeod went unanswered yesterday.