The current legal wrangling at the Industrial Court and the Appeal Court over the imminent closure of the oil refinery and the injunction preventing TSTT from consolidating its residential fibre optic cable business has highlighted the need for serious reform to Trinidad & Tobago’s industrial relations legislative framework. The Energy Chamber of Trinidad & Tobago has been working closely with our colleagues in the other major Chambers and Associations over the past few years to propose a new approach to industrial relations, based on respect and a collaborative approach that aims at a mutually beneficial outcome rather than the out-dated adversarial system. We fully support the calls for change made last week by the Trinidad & Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce and we are united in this endeavour.

The debate over Petrotrin’s future is fast becoming a choice between a real and a surreal world for Trinidad and Tobago.

The Board of Directors of Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (Petrotrin) met on Thursday (2018 September 27) with the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (O.W.T.U.) in a follow-up to a meeting last week when the Union presented, for the Board’s review, the O.W.T.U’s plan to restructure Petrotrin. In addition to the restructuring plan, the Union had also tabled a proposal for leasing the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery.