Possible strike action by the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) was averted on Wednesday night after Petrotrin agreed to extend secondment to the union’s president general Ancel Roget and first vice-president Carlton Gibson.
On Wednesday OWTU labour relation officers—Joanne Phillip and Lyndon Mendoza—met with Petrotrin and Ministry of Labour officials at the ministry’s San Fernando office for a second round of conciliation.
Last week, Petrotrin refused to grant Roget, Gibson and chief labour relations officer John Boisselle extensions of leave for union business and ordered them to return to work or face dismissal.
The union filed a trade dispute with the ministry in which Labour Minister Errol McLeod intervened and met on Monday with both parties.
In a release yesterday, Petrotrin stated two of its employees were granted secondments while the third (Boisselle) had already returned to work.
The release said: “Petrotrin’s senior manager of industrial relations and his team attended yesterday on behalf of the company.
“Following those conciliatory discussions, the company has written to the union informing them of its decision to grant an extension of leave for union business to two of the employees from November 1, 2014 to the end of their elected term.
“The third employee has already returned to work at Petrotrin. Petrotrin maintains its commitment to adhering to good industrial relations practices and principles.”
Backlash coming
Roget warned Government to brace for the trade union movement’s backlash as, he said, that was the latest installment of attacks by the People’s Partnership, recalling 2011’s state of emergency while unions were engaged in industrial action.
He said the only reason Labour Minister Errol McLeod intervened was to carry out Government’s diabolical 99th-hour plan to salvage its image before the general election.