Understanding COLLECTIVE BARGAINING in Trinidad and Tobago in 2024

There is an inextricable link between the Political History of Trinidad and Tobago and modern collective bargaining rights and obligations

?One of the best sources of the historical facts of Trinidad and Tobago is the Country’s Hansard reports (hereinafter referred to as “the Hansard”. According to the Hansard for Wednesday 14th June, 1972, the then Minister of Labour, Social Security and Co-operatives, the Honourable E. Mahabir, made this statement to the House of Representatives over the Industrial Relations Bill of 1972, and I quote from page 936:-

? ??????????? “Mr. Speaker, I beg to move,

That a bill to repeal the Industrial Stabilisation Act, 1965, and to make better provision for the stabilisation improvement and promotion of industrial relations, be now read a second time.

One of the most indispensable ingredients necessary for the successful development of any country, especially a developing country in its early years of independence, is a healthy industrial relations climate.

The problems which characterize relations in industry are a permanent feature of human relations irrespective of the economic system. They spring essentially from the need to organize production and to ensure that workers labour under satisfactory conditions and receive a fair share of the rewards reaped from their efforts.”

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The Honourable Mr. E. Mahabir, went on to state the following which are located on pages 937 to 938 of the Hansard of Wednesday 14th June, 1972:

?“If it is accepted, as I contend, that one of the goals towards which any government must strive is the attainment of industrial peace, then it will be easily appreciated why so many countries, especially Third World countries and even Great Britain, a bastion of voluntary industrial relations, have seen it fit to introduce into their statutes, legislation designed to guide and influence industrial relations to the extent that conflicts and disruptions may be minimized.

Such legislation becomes even more necessary when one considers that there is always a third party to industrial warfare – the community as a whole. This fact is adequately represented in part of a recent statement of the Sir John Donaldson, President of England’s National Industrial Relations Court in the current railway dispute and I quote:

”While unions and management have a joint responsibility for good industrial relations, the primary responsibility for their promotion rests with management.

Good industrial relations does not mean a free-for-all in which the prizes go to the strong and the community goes to the wall. It means a relationship based on the observance of the law, respect for the rights of others and due regard to the community. The community includes, but is not limited to, employers and unions. The community means us all.” ”

Of indelible impact during that monumental moment in the political life of Trinidad and Tobago, the Honourable Minister Mr. E. Mahabir also stated the following (page 956 of the Hansard) which is quite relevant today in 2024, as I use this keyboard, because of the number of attempts by the state in its capacity as an employer (especially the Ministry of National Security, the Ministry of Finance, the Chief Personnel Officer and the Office of the Attorney General) to pretend as if this area has no applicability in the last fourteen (14) years of our Country’s history:

“Hon. Members will note, Sir, that the provision of this Part are so designed as to ensure that the Court will be an Industrial Relations Court in the truest sense of that expression. In fact, it will be essentially a Court of human relations, Clause 9 has been introduced to allow the Court to have wide and liberal jurisdiction to dispense social justice in accordance with the principles of equity, good conscience and good industrial relations.

The jurisdiction will be completely divorced from the shackles of common law and legal technicalities will have no place in its proceedings.” (Emphasis by me – DPM)

?It will be remiss of me if I did not share this last quotation from that commemorative moment in the political history of this Country on that 14th day of June 1972, when the Honourable Minister of Labour evaluated the role of the “collective agreement” to industrial relations, and I quote from page 966 of the Hansard:?

“The collective agreement reached between an employer and a trade union on behalf of the workers in a bargaining unit is one of the most important documents in industrial relations. The treatment of these agreements is covered in Part 4 of this bill. It provides for the contents and registration of collective agreements and makes them registrable and when so registered, shall be enforceable in the Industrial Court.” (Emphasis by me – DPM)

The reasons why I believe that it is my duty to amend in 2024 my previous article on collective bargaining which was written in 2017

Recently, in the month of April 2024, two (2) collective agreements were signed off after some years of negotiations. I led the employer’s side and I became painfully aware how little many members of either side of the negotiating teams would have known when it came to the principles and practices dealing with collective bargaining. I often found myself lecturing to participants of the both sides in order for us to move beyond a turtle’s pace because, in the absence of knowledge, there is no trust, and in the absence of trust, no one wants to make a commitment to agree on anything which looks new. Clearly, the lesson to be learnt here is that both companies and trade unions change their staff so frequently in the last decade that each time a new period of collective bargaining commences, almost 75% of the participants have already left the team by way of union elections or members of management obtaining employment at another company. Therefore, every leader at the collective bargaining process also has to be an on-the-job lecturer for the rest of the participants who are barely useful if those type of lectures did not occur. In the abundance of ignorance there is always a bountiful harvest of distrust.

If what I have just stated above is offensive to you as a reader and before you make up your mind in an inflexible manner, please try to answer the following questions candidly to yourself and by yourself, and then make that judgment call against me:

1.? How is the process of collective bargaining commenced in Trinidad and Tobago??

2.? How is the process of collective bargaining ended in Trinidad and Tobago??

3.? Do you know the difference between the process for the registration of a collective agreement and the process for the registration of an agreement dealing with an individual rights dispute?

4.? During the collective bargaining process many memoranda of agreements are executed with the understanding that they will be incorporated into the collective agreement at the conclusion of the process. Under what area of the Industrial Relations Act would you register those memoranda of agreements??

5.? Do you know the difference between how the date of issue is calculated for the process of collective bargaining and for an individual rights matter? (I am taking it for granted that you know what the date of issue actually is.)

6.? Do you know the difference between a 51 (3) extension of time and a 55 (2) extension of time when dealing with the collective bargaining process??

7.? Are parties to a collective agreement permitted to continue with collective bargaining if the six (6) month lifespan for a trade dispute had elapsed??

8.? Can you report a breakdown of negotiations to the Minister of Labour if the six (6) month lifespan for the collective agreement have elapsed??

9.? What should a party do if it wanted to report a breakdown of negotiations to the Minister of Labour but it came to realize from the Minister of Labour that the six (6) month lifespan of the dispute has already elapsed and the matter is now statute barred?

10.????????????? Do you know the difference which the aggravators and the moderators have to play during the collective bargaining process?

11.????????????? What do you put on the table first, the WATNA or the BATNA??

12.????????????? Do you know what is the severance benefits formula which an employer in Trinidad and Tobago has to use if the employer has made a decision to completely close down the operations?

13.????????????? Do you appreciate the differences in income taxes obligations when dealing with a voluntary separation and when dealing with a retrenchment?

14.????????????? Do you understand the role of the principle of retroactivity with regards to persons who left the place of employment before the collective agreement had been completed but the period of the collective agreement predates the departure of such persons?

15.????????????? Do you appreciate the concept of a failure to meet and treat for purposes of a collective agreement and the danger which the members of management may face if found guilty of same?

16.????????????? Do you understand the difference between peaceful legal picketing and illegal industrial action?

17.????????????? Do you understand when it is time to stop the union members in their tracks when they cross over their legal boundaries in order to seek to dictate to members of management over issues which are strictly within the scope of managerial prerogative?

18.????????????? Do you understand the difference between a term of employment and a condition of employment and how these things are linked to the concepts of consultation and negotiations? (I am taking it for granted that you know the difference between consultation and negotiation.)

19.????????????? Do you understand the concept of a custom and practice and the procedure which has to be followed if you wish to amend it?

20.????????????? Do you understand the difference between acting allowance and additional duties allowance??

21.????????????? Do you understand the difference between a promotion and an upgrade of a job classification?

22.????????????? What advice would you give the Company if the owner wanted to amend the promotion clause during the lifespan of a registered collective agreement?

23.????????????? What advice would you give to the payroll department if they informed you that a worker had dropped out of a union which had previously obtained an agency shop order and the worker did not want the union dues being deducted from his earnings going forward? (I have taken it for granted that you know what an agency shop order is.)

24.????????????? Does a company have to meet and treat with a recognized majority union if its recognition status is currently being challenged by another union at the Recognition Registration and Certification Board?

25.????????????? Public Servants who are being represented by the PSA in situations where the PSA have recognized majority status such as the Chaguaramas Development Authority or the National Insurance Board, do you presently believe that your current union leaders can answer my questions above and competently lead the membership of those bargaining units into a modern contemporary period for the outstanding collective agreements??

26.????????????? Do you personally believe that you could enter a room today, or within a few days, and lead the company’s negotiating team against any known trade union operating within the jurisdiction of Trinidad and Tobago without being accompanied by an industrial relations consultant such as myself??

27. Do you personally believe that you would know how to handle a breakdown of negotiations reported to the Minister of Labour without being accompanied by an industrial relations consultant such as myself?

The 12 Commandments which should guide you in 2024, if you are part of a Collective Bargaining team?

To the best of my knowledge, it remains a fact that collective bargaining is the most expensive activity which any department of human resources would be engaged in due to the impact that this process has on basic wages and salaries, pension benefits, severance benefits, general cost-items, etc. In this regard, I wish to re-submit certain fundamental guidelines which emanated from the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago via court judgments and my decision to rely on these authorities is merited by the following quotation from His Honour Mr. Addison M. Khan (Former President of the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago) which is extracted from Trade Dispute No. 1 of 1989 (Delivered on January 14th, 1991):?

“This Court is a specialised Court and it is incumbent upon those whose responsibility it is to advise employers on industrial relations matters that they should become acquainted with the provisions of the Act and the Judgments of this Court and applicable Judgments of the Court of Appeal. Failure to do so could lead, as in this case, to unnecessary expense.”?

With the above quotation in mind, the following quotations will concretise the main principles and practices which the Industrial Court would have developed over the years for the process of collective bargaining which requires a special mental outlook and a needs-based approach instead of a positional predilection or penchant.

(1)? Industrial peace and stability is the main goal of collective bargaining.?

“Earlier on at pages 520 – 521, Phillips, J.A. expressed his opinion that?

“The paramount objective of the Act is the achievement of industrial peace and stability. With this end in view, it provides machinery which operates for two basic purposes, viz:????????????

(1) ? The promotion of collective bargaining between employers and workers with the object of entering into industrial agreements registrable under the Act.

(2) ? The settlement of trade disputes by the method of conciliation and arbitration.”

?See IRO No. 3 of 1989 In the Industrial Court between Transport and Industrial Workers Union and Coelho Baking Industries Limited – Delivered July 24, 1989.

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(2)? A collective agreement is a statutory code.

“Also in the matter of I.C.A. No. 10 of 1997, between Lever Brothers W.I. Ltd. Vs O.W.T.U. (The very parties of this instant matter) at page (7), His Honour Mr. A.M. Khan, Vice President, expressed the same principle thus:?

…….We think that it is necessary to once more emphasise the sanctity of a registered agreement. A registered agreement is not entered into for cosmetic purposes. It has legal force and effect. A registered agreement is binding on the Company, the recognised majority union……… The terms of a registered agreement, therefore cannot be ignored at the will of the parties, since it is binding, not merely in honour, but also in law.”?

ICA No. 6 of 1998 between Lever Brothers (West Indies) Limited and Oilfields Workers Trade Union delivered by His Honour Mr. C.O. Bernard.

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(3)? All terms and conditions are subject to trade-offs and amendments no matter how long these terms and conditions existed.?

“Secondly the fact that a benefit has been in existence for a long time is not in and of itself a good and sufficient argument for its retention. In this connection we quote with approval the following dictum from the judgement of this Court dated 8th July 1982 in T.D. 116 of 1979:?

“We do not subscribe to the view that merely because a benefit has been enjoyed by workers in an old agreement it must in all circumstances continue to be enjoyed by them in new collective agreements. The Court recognizes the concept of trading-off and that changes are at times necessary because of drastically altered conditions.””?

See Trade Disputes Nos. 82 and 83 of 1992 In the Industrial Court between Oilfields Workers Trade Union and Trinidad cement Limited– Delivered April 28, 1995.

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(4)? A comparative analysis with other companies should be done before the commencement of negotiations and during the negotiations itself.

“Comparability?

Over the years, the Court has, in the exercise of its powers under the Act, employed the system of comparability to determine what wages or salaries and other terms and conditions of employment should be applicable in any particular undertaking. Comparability is done both externally, i.e. outside the particular enterprise under consideration, and internally, i.e. within the particular enterprise. Comparability is, however, not an exact science but, in the exercise of its mandate to be fair and just to employers, trade unions and workers, the court has adopted this system. External comparison includes the examination of wages, salary, terms and conditions of employment applicable generally in Trinidad and Tobago. The Court also examines similar inclusions in comparable establishments of reputable and responsible employers in the particular sector in which the employer concerned operates. The net should be cast as wide as possible to maintain an even balance.”?

See Trade Disputes Nos. 199 and 200 of 2004 In the Industrial Court between National Union of Government and Federated Workers and Carib Glassworks Limited and Trade Disputes Nos. 201 and 202 of 2004 In the Industrial Court between National Union of Government and Federated Workers and Caribbean Development Company Limited – Delivered April 7, 2005.

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(5)? ILO Benchmarking should be utilized as a key source for good industrial relations.?

“The Union made reference to the ILO Convention No. 132 dealing with annual vacation leave in order to buttress its proposals on that type of leave.

Under the Act, we are commanded “to act in accordance with equity, good conscience and the substantial merits of the case before us, having regard to the principles and practices of good industrial relations.”

In this regard, it was His Honour Mr. A.M. Khan, the President of the Court, who stated as follows (During an ECA Seminar on Landmark Judgments in Industrial Relations on March 23, 2000):

“The best source of the principles and practices of good industrial relations are to be found in the Convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO).”?

As a result, the conventions are recognized as good industrial relations principles and practices, where applicable and as such, they are observed and complied with in the course of the hearing and determination of disputes before the Court, moreso in the case of interest disputes in as much as they represent and provide acceptable and suitable standards in respect of terms and conditions of employment.”

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(6)? Sharing of information with the other side is not only helpful for the negotiations to move forward but it is mandatory.

“This Court has in IRO 24/95 between TIWU and MULTIFOODS CORPORATION LIMITED opined that:-?

“refusal by one party to provide information requested by another for the purpose of collective bargaining can amount to an industrial relations offence where the information requested and refused is reasonably necessary to enable the requesting party to conduct negotiations particularly where the information requested is exclusively within the knowledge of the party to whom the request is made.”?

This Court adopts the observation in the foregoing case. On the evidence before it this Court finds the employer guilty.”?

See IRO No. 3 of 1999 In the Industrial Court between Bank and General Workers’ Union and Public Transport Service Corporation Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited – Delivered 28th March, 2001.

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(7)? Good faith bargaining is of fundamental significance when parties are engaged in collective bargaining.

“I am of the opinion that it is always necessary for the Court to examine the motives and intentions of the parties in any particular case to determine whether or not there has been an absence of good faith in either of the parties. It is this absence of good faith which gives rise to the offence. I am of the view that it is essential for the Court to investigate the absence of good faith in all cases in which it is alleged that an offence has been committed under s. 40. In my view, this is necessary even in cases where there has been a complete failure or refusal to meet, since there may be good reasons for such failure or refusal to meet. In my view, the essence of the offence is a failure or refusal in good faith to treat and enter into negotiations. “Good faith” means that there must be a genuine desire to reach agreement.”

See IRO No. 16 of 1996 In the Industrial Court between National Petroleum Staff Association and Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited – Delivered March 12, 1997.

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(8)? A registered collective agreement can be replaced only by another registered collective agreement provided that the earlier one has expired.?

“We shall now deal with the memorandum of agreement. In evidence, Audain stated that the memorandum “extended” the collective agreement for a further period of three years. An examination of this memorandum shows that it was in fact “extended” for two years that is from 1st October, 1988 to 30th September, 1990.?

We are not aware of any provisions of the Act which provide for the “extension” of a collective agreement. A registered collective agreement can only be replaced by another collective agreement?? which has been registered pursuant to the provisions of ss. 43 to 47 of the Act. The memorandum did not comply with these requirements and is therefore null and void.”?

I.C.A. 3/90 In the Industrial Court Between Amalgamated Workers Union and Produce Marketing Associates Limited – Delivered December 9, 1991.

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(9)? The framework of collective bargaining is founded on the principle of majority rule.?

“The cumulative effect of the law as expressed in sections 35 and 40 is that the employer is obligated to treat and enter into negotiations in good faith only with the recognised majority union and not with the workers directly. The requirement is based on the principles of good industrial relations practice. The entire framework of collective bargaining rests on this fundamental principle which was founded on the acceptance of majority rule in industrial relations and which was intended to prevent chaos and confusion and introduce stability in the work place.”?

See IRO 16 of 2000 between Bank and General Workers Union and Works Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited delivered on March 2, 2007.

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(10) An employer cannot arbitrarily erode the existing bargaining unit.?

“However, the authorities point out that the right of an employer to unilaterally decide if work exist in a classification or position is not an unqualified right.?

One such authority is the Canadian case of Pilkington Brothers Ltd and United Glass and Ceramic Workers [1976] 13, L.A.C. (2d) which states inter alia that the right to fill or not to fill a vacancy must be based on objective standards and facts as they exist at the time the vacancy is alleged to exist. Moreover, that right must withstand an examination of the company’s practice. For example, “An employer cannot, on the one hand, assert that there is no vacancy and on the other, require the work of the classification to be done to an extent as would establish that there is a “job of to be done.” P.291?

Secondly, an employer in refusing to fill a vacancy must explain its rationale only on the basis of the availability of work and not on irrelevant considerations, such as its economic position. See Air Canada and Canadian airlines Employees’ Association [1975] 8, L.A.C. (2nd).”?

See Trade Disputes Nos. 94, 96, 97, 98, 100 & 101 of 2000 Between Steel Workers union of Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean Ispat Limited – Delivered June 14, 2007.

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(11) Amateurs have no leading role to play during negotiations for a new collective agreement.

“As we have already said, bargaining in this area is the art of seeking what is possible on both sides. What is needed, then, is employees and employers who are responsible, enlightened, well-advised, reasonable and lucid, who are supported and assisted by leaders and advisers who are in turn responsible, enlightened, well-advised, reasonable and lucid. As regards these leaders and advisers, there is no room for rank amateurs in this field.

Why are all these qualities essential? Because the errors committed during this process lead the parties slowly but surely toward the sanction that is applied in the event of failure: a work stoppage with all the accompanying hardships.”?

“Here, we find another truth that must be understood clearly. A strike or lock-out may be lost. There may be one or more losers. Some would say that everyone loses from an economic standpoint and this is perhaps true. But there may be losers in the fullest sense of the word. That party that has miscalculated its capacity for economic resistance may lose everything; an employer may jeopardize the existence of his business, and union members and unions may jeopardize their positions and their existence, respectively. Generally speaking, this is the law. It is this ever latent and genuine possibility that is the system’s ultimate mechanism for rendering the parties reasonable, lucid and responsible.”??

See Application No. 8 of 2004 In the Industrial Court between National Union of Government and Federated Workers and Caribbean Development Company Limited – Delivered 8th July, 2004.

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(12) Neither party to a collective agreement has the power to contract out the statutory rights of the company, the managers, the union or the workers.

“It would be odd indeed if a collective agreement which derives its power and authority from the Act could use that power to destroy the Act. But the Act itself seeks to ensure that no one should be misled into believing that it is subject to any such suicidal outcome. It proclaims in s. 43 (5) –

?????? The following terms in any collective agreement are void –

(a)?????? ?…………………………………….

(b)?????? ?Any clause excluding or limiting any of the provision of this Act or agreement.

(c)?????? ?…………………………………….”?

“The reason why we have thought fit to make these observations, is because this disregard of the provisions of the Act in drawing up collective agreements is not confined to the Company and the Union but is widespread throughout the field of unionised industry. We have already drawn attention to aspects of it in Trade Dispute 32 of 1975 between Texaco Trinidad Incorporated and Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union and Trade Dispute 62 of 1975 between Alstons Building Enterprises Ltd. , v. Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union but we consider that the irregularity is so widespread that it calls for the attention of the Trade Union Movement, the Employers’ Consultative Association, the Industrial Relations Advisory Committee and the Ministry of Labour.”

T.D. No. 68 of 1980 between Trinidad and Tobago Television Company Limited & Communication, Transport and General Workers’ Trade Union: Delivered November 14th, 1980, Pages 9 and 11.

The salient contentious matters which you should plan for once you are connected to collective bargaining for new collective agreements

1)? The principle of retroactivity must be applied to the benefit of every employee who was employed during the retroactive period covered by the newly executed and registered collective agreement. It does not matter whether some employees had left the company after signing a full and final settlement over a voluntary separation or any other type of full and final settlement. Under these circumstances the common law rule of privity of contract is made inoperative by the Industrial Relations Act and the industrial relations rule of retroactivity. (The landmark judgment was delivered since in 1993.)?

2)? The Court is clear in the fact that it does not have a licence to award any exorbitant salary increases even though the employer had failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify its claim. (Landmark judgment was delivered in 2020.)

3)? The Court takes judicial notice of whether other companies within the same sector closed down operations or whether clients of the company closed down operations when it makes an award for other breakdown in negotiations which are in front of them. (Landmark judgment was delivered in 2022.)?

4)? It is the right of the recognized majority union to negotiate terms of a contributory pension plan. (Landmark judgments were delivered in 1985 and 1988.)?

5)? It is a fact that the Industrial Court will reject any attempt by a Union to refer to it a breakdown of negotiations if the evidence shows that 100% of the workers within the bargaining unit have accepted the lockout terms of the Company. (Landmark judgments were delivered in 1989 and 1990.) ??

6)? With respect to the rule that as long as a single worker remains defiant and refuses to sign the lockout terms up to the end of the three (3) months period of the industrial action, the Industrial Court has spinelessly suggested that such circumstances allow for the trade dispute to be referred to the Industrial Court as breakdown in negotiations. This is great injustice being perpetrated by the Industrial Court against employers because it only takes 51% of the workers to obtain recognition and 66 and 2/3% to obtain an Agency Shop Order while the employers in this Country are unfairly shouldered with a 100% need to have everyone accept the lockout terms before the victory for the company is declared. (Landmark judgments were delivered in 1989, 1993 and 1999.)?

7)? An injunction can be used against any of the bargaining parties if they intentionally participate in illegal industrial action. (Landmark judgments were delivered in 2006 and 2014.)?

8)? Unions which have been found guilty of intentional illegal industrial action may lose their certificate of recognition and be prevented from any collective bargaining and seeking recognition at that establishment for some years thereafter. (Two (2) landmark judgments were delivered in 1983.)?

9)? Workers found guilty of intentional illegal industrial action are liable to lose their job because this type of action goes to the root of the contract of employment. (Four (4) landmark judgments were delivered in 1983, 1993, 1995 and 2007.)?

10)????????????? Use of violence by picketers against non-picketers was deemed to be misconduct which went to the root of the contract of employment so it properly attracted dismissal for cause. (Three (3) landmark judgments were delivered in 1983, 1987 and 1990.)?

11)????????????? On the other hand, use of peaceful picketing during the lunch hours or outside the normal hours of work is deemed to be perfectly legal and no form of disciplinary action can succeed against peaceful and legal picketers. (One (1) landmark judgment was delivered in 1980 and two (2) landmark judgments were delivered in 1989.)?

12)????????????? Successorship principles established within the labour jurisdiction of Trinidad and Tobago obligates a successor company to meet and treat with the recognized majority union. Similarly, where one recognized majority union has lawfully replaced a previously recognized majority union, the employer is obligated to treat with the new recognized majority as the author of all documents which were issued by the previous recognized majority union. (Landmark judgments were delivered in 1975, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2010 and 2024.)

13)????????????? Meeting and treating with the recognized majority union is also mandatory for the employers who plan to offer a voluntary separation package to their bargaining unit employees. Failure to do so could attract an injunction and fines for failing to meet and treat for the purposes of completing a collective agreement. A voluntary separation package is deemed to be the type of item which is covered by the concept of a supplemental agreement which has to be handled in the same manner that a normal collective agreement has to be handled. (Landmark judgments were delivered in 1989, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2021.)?

14)????????????? The Industrial Court is duty bound to make a ruling during a hearing of a breakdown of negotiations if the employer fails to attend Court and there is no justifiable for not attending. (Landmark judgments were delivered in 2005 and 2023.)?

15)????????????? Last but not least, parties to a collective agreement are obligated to execute the completed agreement and send it to the Minister of Labour so that the process of registration could be commenced. It is an industrial relations offence to refuse to participate in the execution of the completed document. The significance of this area cannot be overstated because the registration of the collective agreement is what makes it an enforceable document at the Industrial Court. (Three (3) landmark judgments were delivered in 1989 and one (1) was delivered in 1999.)?

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CONCLUSION

By this point of my article I sincerely believe that you will know if you are ready to lead your company’s team against the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU), the Banking Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU), the Seamen and Waterfront Workers Union (SWWTU), the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW), the Transport and Industrial Workers Union (TIWU), and the Contractors and General Workers Trade Union (CAGWTU). If you are ready then all power to you. If you are not ready then feel free to contact me or some other industrial relations consultant if you want to genuinely learn the ropes in this complicated area of industrial relations. Mentorship is also the tool for proper training within this field. Here again you learn from carefully selected judgments and from strategic planning before each meeting. Mentorship ought to assist you to recognize the political history which this process went through to reach where we are today. Collective bargaining is about self- governance and the intentional erosion of the colonial shackles which foreign expats had imposed on third world peoples. It is about understanding integrity and bribery. It is about understanding introspection, empathy and thuggery. It is about team-work which is no different from a soccer team or a cricket team when the game-plan for the negotiations is being formulated by the strategic decision makers after listening to the technocrats from operations, administration, safety and health and industrial relations. The old saying that “he was penny wise and pound foolish” is very applicable here because playing stingy on your budget for an industrial relations consultant may expose you to weak negotiating and expensive mistakes which cannot be corrected until the new agreement expires. Weak negotiators for a company give away managerial prerogatives because they do not even know what are the areas of managerial prerogatives in the first place. In this regard, a word to the wise is sufficient. Best of luck.