A labour dispute that rattled the Freeport Container Port in June 2004 has resurfaced as two former employees push the Industrial Tribunal to come to a decision on the “fairness” of a mass firing at the facility almost two years ago.
Larry McIntosh and Brian Collie, who were affected by the terminations, told The Bahama Journal yesterday they are still waiting for the Industrial Tribunal to set a date and rule if the firings were unfair or not.
” We have a right to file our grievances with the Labour Department and let it be heard speedily,” said Mr. McIntosh. “Give us a date and let the judge determine whether we were wrong or we were right.”
The labour dispute was fuelled by the actions of a former manager at the port, John Rolle. When Mr. Rolle was fired many workers walked off the job in a show of support and to demonstrate their disapproval of the termination.
In response to the walk out, the port reportedly said that the “illegal work stoppage” resulted in a decline in business and contended that some of its customers decided to conduct business at other container ports in the region, forcing the Freeport Container Port to cut back on staff.
Mr. Rolle was not re-hired by the port and many workers lost their jobs.
Messrs. McIntosh and Collie claim that they, along with other workers, were terminated so that management could bring in casual workers.
They also claim that the company sought to quash the efforts of workers who were seeking union representation.
Now the workers want to know when their case will be heard by the Industrial Tribunal.
Constance McDonald, counsel for the former employees, told The Journal that the case involves more than a date hearing.
“I donﾒt think parliament intended, when they passed the Employment Act, for the employer to just terminate an employee because they donﾒt want him anymore,” said Ms. McDonald.
“What has been happening is, employers, because there is a loophole in the law, who donﾒt want a particular individual working for them anymore, have been terminating them with notice. This is what has happened in the case of the workers.”
Once employees who were terminated were paid off under Section 29 of the Employment Act, which allows an employer to terminate a worker with compensation, they were made to sign a release waiving any right they might have had, said the lawyer.
Based on the how the labour law is structured, said Ms. McDonald, workers become the “underdog” in labour disputes “because industrial relationships for many years under the law do not force any employer to keep an employee.”
The Bahama Journal made several attempts to speak with the Freeport Container Portﾒs lawyer, Robert Adams, but he refused to comment.
Harcourt Brown, director of labour, told The Journal that while he was not able to speak specifically to the references made by Ms. McDonald, he said the Employment Act gives some degree of protection against unfair dismals, but he admitted that it has its limitations.
“We need to always bear in mind that the Act sets out the minimum standards and at the end of the day the courts will take into account not what the Act says but also what the prevailing circumstances are in the country and elsewhere,” Mr. Brown explained.
Mr. Brown said he was optimistic that those cases and rulings that may have taken quite a while to come forward “are in the process of coming forward”.
“No one can dictate to [the Tribunal] how quickly or how slowly they handle matters because at the end of the day the Tribunal has a job to do,” he said.
However, Ms. McDonald said that after almost two years of waiting, many of the former employees feel “wronged.”
“There appears to be no one addressing their wrong,” she said, adding that this scenario was not particular to the group of former port employees.
“I tell persons take the money and find yourself another job and put it behind you.
“Former workers at the Container Port] havenﾒt gotten any closure, [although] they have gotten money, they donﾒt have a remedy under the Employment Act.”
By: Daphne McIntosh, The Bahama Journal
