Industrial Court backs Nestle in retrenching 19 workers

NESTLE Trinidad and Tobago Limited has won the favour of the Industrial Court in a matter where the company got rid of 19 workers two years ago, on grounds of redundancy, arising from surplus labour.

The reason given by the company for its action was the closure of its merchandising division. The Oilfields’ Workers’ Trade Union which fought the case on behalf of the 19 workers challenged the retrenchment on grounds that after their retrenchment, two of the workers obtained employment with a contractor of the company, performing the same duties as merchandisers as when they worked with Nestle. But the court, in judgment last week, found the company dismissed the workers on the ground of “redundancy,” within the meaning of that term, in the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act.

The court further found that the company was entitled to do what it did, because the workers were surplus to its requirement. Moreover, explained the court, in retrenching the workers the company complied with all its obligations to the workers, including paying to them the severance benefits to which they were entitled. The court noted that before the retrenchment of the workers, the company attempted to discuss with the union, a variation of hours of work of the merchandisers, in view of a change in the consumer pattern in the industry. The union refused to agree on any variation of the workers’ hours of work, observed the court. “This was regrettable, since if the union had agreed to such a variation, the redundancy of the workers might have been avoided.”