For the past several years the short-changed former workers had
been screaming that they were robbed by Caribbean Tyre and that
they wanted their money back.
Nobody did anything about their problem until John and Paul decided
to take the matter to the Industrial Court.
John related: “When we were about to be retrenched in the
early 90s both Caribbean Tyre and the Oilfield Workers’ Trade
Union (OWTU) were trying to get us to agree to give up 30 per cent
of our severance pay to get jobs with Carlisle Tyre, a company they
said had plans to buy the assets of Caribbean Tyre; but the majority
of us did not agree to that.
“We wanted our money.”
During the court hearing, he added, “we learnt that Bennet
Berkley a former vice-president of the OWTU and four former workers
of Caribbean Tyre unknown to the other workers, signed an agreement
for Caribbean Tyre to take away 30 per cent of our severance pay
in exchange for work.
“That was very hard for us to take.
“And Carlisle Tyre did not hire the former Caribbean Tyre
workers anyway.
“Subsequently, we approached the OWTU about taking Caribbean
Tyre to court to get our money back, but they refused.
“They refused even though all of the 204 of us were financial
members of the union up to the time of our retrenchment.
“After the OWTU refused to fight our case for us, Paul and
I decided to take the matter to the Industrial Court.
“We spoke to other former workers and they agreed that we
should stand up and fight to get our money back, even though at
that time we had been long retrenched.
“I was one of the last two persons to be retrenched in March
1995.
“We went to Port of Spain attorney Jennifer Hudson-Phillips,
to take Caribbean Tyre to court.”
The matter was registered as Trade dispute number 12 of 1999 in
the Industrial Court, a matter between the OWTU and Caribbean Tyre
Limited (in voluntary liquidation).
But the OWTU refused to have anything to do with the matter or to
help with the legal fees even though it was Errol Mc Leod and Bennet
Berkley who had strongly advised the giving up of the 30 per cent
in exchange for work with Carlisle Tyre also Michael Bazie, the
former manager of Caribbean Tyre.
“Most of us were not interested in their suggestion as we
didn’t trust what they were saying.
“After Caribbean Tyre bought Dunlop, the company that hired
us in the first place, they started to make us unhappy as they kept
cutting our pay.
“Actually, they cut our pay four times without registering
it with the Ministry of Labour and they started paying us our severance
pay piece-piece, by $100 and $200 cheques.
“Caribbean Tyre was a bad experience for us.
“They took our 30 per cent without our agreeing to it. We
wanted our whole severance pay.
“Carlton Gibson a present vice-president of the OWTU who took
over from Berkley, told our lawyer that ‘the majority of workers
accepted 70 per cent of their severance entitlement in full and
final settlement of all claims for severance without any concluded
agreement concerning employment in Carlisle Tyre free zone Ltd’.
“But that’s not true.
“Gibson was not correct when he told our lawyer that.
“Do you believe that any worker would agree to give up 30
per cent of his severance benefit for no reason at all?
“Do you believe that any worker would tell a company, just
so, it’s fine for them to take money due to him just so?
“It was a deception.
“But as far as the judge said, under the Industrial Relations
Act they should not have interfered with our severance pay.
“That is how we got justice.
“Ms. Hudson-Phillips went all the way with us and we are grateful
to her.
“We want to have a meeting with all the former Caribbean Tyre
employees and we would appreciate if they would get in touch with
us soon.
In the matter, Attorney Elton Prescott appeared for Caribbean Tyre,
along with Michael Bazie former managing director and Errol Ramnath
financial manager.
The court comprised of Judges R. Lutchmedial, J. Pounder, and P.
Lai. |
