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In a recent high court ruling, Justice Vasheist Kokaram dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA). The teachers asserted that the marking of school-based assessments (SBAs) for the CSEC and CAPE examinations did not fall under their contractual obligations.
The following Letter to the Editor questioning the judgement in the TTUA SBA case was sent to Wired868 by Fatimah Mohammed of Cunupia:
I am puzzled at the recent advice given by high court judge Vasheist Kokaram in the complaint by the T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) on whether teachers should continue marking school-based assessments (SBAs).
In his 60-page judgement, Kokaram advised that the dispute should be dealt with by a special tribunal of the industrial court. He also said the issues relating to the contractual obligation of teachers were ‘in essence a labour dispute’.
However, according to the Industrial Relations Act (1972, amended in 1994), lecturers and teachers cannot take their disputes to the industrial court because they are not deemed as ‘workers’.
Section 3 (c) of the Act states: “For the purposes of this Act, no person shall be regarded as a worker if he is … a member of the Teaching Service as defined in the Education Act, or is employed in a teaching capacity by a university or other institution of higher learning …”
Can someone please explain if teachers can take their complaints to the industrial court, especially if they feel they were unfairly dismissed or retrenched?
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“[…] What do the employers and the one percent want? The objective is to maximise their profits by minimising their Read more
Our teachers’ day of ‘rest and reflection’ is entirely unsurprising. It is the natural outcome of events that began in Read more
“[…] During the Petrotrin shutdown saga, the OWTU actually offered to take a 15% wage cut in order to save Read more
“[…] Both the Privy Council and the Court of Appeal noted that the motivations of the JLSC [in the Marcia Read more
The Industrial Court Special Tribunal delivered a judgment on 18 February 2022, and ruled that it would be too expensive Read more
From the onset I wish to indicate that I hold no brief for either the outgoing office holder or the Read more
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