Industrial Court gets 4 new judges

FOUR NEW judges were appointed to the Port-of-Spain Industrial Court during a special sitting of the court yesterday. The four appointees — former Deputy Chief Magistrate Deborah Thomas-Felix, former Jamaican Magistrate Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell, former employee at the Ministry of Labour, Victoria Harrigin and the former labour relations officer of the NUGFW Gregory Rousseau — all pledged to truly serve the people of Trinidad and Tobago and to contribute to the development of the Industrial Court.

The landmark sitting was the second one to be held in the history of the Industrial Court, which is  located at St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain. The first one was held in 1965, when five judges were appointed to the court. At the sitting yesterday, Industrial Court president Justice Addison Khan noted that he had confidence in the ability of the newly appointed judges and believed that they would join their efforts with the other judges to uphold the court’s high standard. Touching on the court’s history, Justice Khan explained that the court was first established in April, 1965, with a compliment of four judges. He said the court was established to deal with the failure of the common-law to provide effective remedies in industrial relations disputes.

He said the ineffectiveness of the common-law led to serious dislocations on the industrial relations scene, which caused the country to suffer immensely from industrial action between 1960 and 1964. He noted that during that period, over 230 strikes took place. He stated that the need for a more effective system led to the enactment of the Industrial Stabilisation Act, 1965. Justice Khan also pointed out that over the last seven years 2,087 cases were filed while 1,871 were brought forward from previous years, totalling 3,958 cases. Of that number 3,655 cases were determined by the end of 2003.

Justice Khan also expressed gratitude to the outgoing judges, Sandra Ramparas, Paul Lai, Sam Maharaj and Joseph Young, for the contribution they made and their diligent service to the court. Also addressing the sitting were attorneys Seenath Jairam, SC Reginald Armour and SC Douglas Mendes. In offering congratulatory greetings to the appointees yesterday, Jairam pointed out that “to be learned in labour relations is an art which requires long study and experience before one can attain cognizance of it.”