President of the Antigua Trades and Labour Union (AT&LU) Wigley George said he is happy with the progress made in whittling down the backlog of cases before the Labour Commission.
George said the three-member tribunal, which was set up to settle the matters some of which date back to 2000, has been working quickly and efficiently.
“We are seeing steady progress in the cases being dealt with. As a matter of fact, I think cases are done almost every day and the results are coming back in a matter of days so I think the list of over 400 cases will be narrowed very soon,” George said.
“I know the season will take a little toll on it and they will probably suspend the work until the new year begins, but we are very pleased and welcome this initiative. The three men are really assisting the Labour Department in getting the work done,” George added.
However the AT&LU president said he believes there will continue to be a number of cases presented to the Labour Commission in the coming weeks and wants the commission to remain for a longer term.
“We look forward to the group continuing however because a number of cases are being referred on a daily basis to the Labour Department through the last couple of weeks,” George said.
“At least my union would have put through at least 25 cases per week. We are overwhelmed as well with matters coming from workers to the Labour Office, so the Labour Department will continue to see an increase in matters referred to it,” George predicted.
Meanwhile the union president said he is pleased with the results of the rulings, the majority of which he said go in favour of the unions.
“The results are very good. The unions have been faring very well. There are matters that the three men are very versed on the Labour laws and so while we are in a position to point out the basic areas that were breached by the law, they will have no other alternative but to agree because that’s based on the law,” George said.
However, George admitted that he does not always succeed, although it is often due to a technicality when the union is defeated.
“I have lost one but that’s based on a technicality where the worker may not have given us enough information and the company produced a letter that the worker signed to sign away her rights and that was produced just at the last minute,” George said.
“I think we are getting through on our side favourably so we are quite happy but we are not going to win everything, just like in the courts we are not going to win everything.”
The tribunal is comprised of former Secretary General of the AT&LU David Jonas, Ambassador Sir Keithlyn Smith and Henderson Bass, a former head of the Employers’ Federation.
