Doctors: No overtime from Friday

The action is to be taken as a mark of protest against the failure of the Registration Recognition and Certification Board (RRCB) to recognise the Medical Professionals Association of TT (MPATT) as the bargaining unit for all RHA doctors.

The protest action, set to commence at 4 pm on Friday, will result in doctors working only from 8am-4pm, Mondays to Fridays. They will not work on weekends and public holidays.
MPATT’s vice president, Dr Rajendra Persad, said yesterday that doctors at both WRHA and SWRHA had unanimously agreed to forego overtime duties. MPATT yesterday branded RRCB’s refusal as “unfair” in it’s dealings with the doctors’ association.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Persad said that the RRCB had issued a “curt” statement regarding its decision to deny the organisation recognition status as outlined in Section 33 of the Industrial Relations Act (IRA).

Persad said MPATT had fulfilled the requirements sought by relevant subsections of the RRCB. One such requirement involved the nature and scope of duties exercised by the workers in the proposed bargaining unit.

Persad said that MPATT requested an explantion from both the RRCB and the Ministry of Health for what he described as “biased, prejudicial and unfair treatment.”

Persad lamented that decisions by the RRCB cannot be challenged because the Board was established under the Industrial Relations Act.