Original Windies 25 for Bajan camp

TAKE GUARD again. In the meantime, let’s play ball. After seven hours of talks chaired by Grenada Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, the way has been cleared for the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) to try to resolve the crisis that threatens to rob the West Indies of a full-strength team for the forthcoming VB Series in Australia. Just before 8 pm, Mitchell, chairman of the prime ministerial sub-committee on cricket, disclosed that WICB and WIPA had agreed to submit briefs by next Friday for the development of terms of reference for the engagement of an independent adjudicator to render a decision on the interpretation of an old clause of a previous match-tour contract. The adjudicator will be appointed by the sub-committee.

Both parties also resolved to use their best endeavours to reach a negotiated settlement on the controversial Clause 5 of the new match/tour contract by December 15. In the meantime, the planned three-week camp will start in Barbados tomorrow as scheduled with the originally invited 25 players. “I feel heartened that after this long and difficult process we have an understanding on the way forward and it appears now that the tour to Australia may not be jeopardised by the grievance,” Mitchell said. “Clearly there needs to be a much closer working relationship between the WICB and the players’ representatives. That is a major deficiency and the prime ministerial sub-committee plans to meet very soon and will be involving all the parties to look at a fundamental process for the way forward for the development of West Indies cricket.”

WIPA, which was represented at the talks by president and chief executive officer Dinanath Ramnarine, legal adviser Dr Kusha Haraksingh and labour adviser David Abdulah, expressed satisfaction at the completion of the talks. “We have always indicated we were interested in continuing our dialogue with the process of reaching an agreement. We are happy that this process will continue and we are looking forward to it,” Ramnarine said. The dispute between the WICB and WIPA is over differences of sponsorships and endorsements. It stems from a conflict of interest between rival telecommunications companies, Digicel, the new sponsor of West Indies cricket, and Cable & Wireless, the former sponsor which has entered into endorsement deals with eight players. The controversial Clause 5 has created a headache which led to a stalemate after 14 hours of discussions in Port-of-Spain last week, but Mitchell feels it can be resolved.

“When the 1K (old contract) issues on the contracts are decided, I think it will inform the Clause 5 situation,” he said. Mitchell was joined by Barbados Minister of Sports Reginald Farley, who sat in for Prime Minister Owen Arthur, Caricom Assistant Secretary-General Dr Edward Greene and Grenadian Prime Minister’s special adviser, Richardson Andrews. The WICB team comprised president Teddy Griffith, chief executive officer Roger Brathwaite and legal adviser Milton Samuda.

Here is the full text of the agreement: 
Given the limited period between now and the VB Tri-angular series in Australia (January 2005), the philosophical differences between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) on the issues of players and team rights, it was agreed that the Prime Ministerial Sub Committee will have full oversight of this process, and will stand prepared to provide the good offices of its members in the interest of West Indies cricket.
The Prime Ministerial Sub Committee, in consultation with WICB and WIPA, agreed on the following:
A. That WICB and WIPA will submit briefs by Friday December 3, for the development of Terms of Reference of the engagement of an independent adjudicator to be appointed by the Prime Ministerial Sub Committee to render a binding decision on the interpretation of Clause 1K of previous WICB Match/Tour contracts. In that regard, both parties are instructed to make their best efforts to make available to the adjudicator all relevant contracts.
B. Both parties are resolved to use their best endeavours to reach a negotiated settlement on Clause 5 of the new Match Tour Contract by December 15, 2004.
C. WICB and WIPA should conclude the outstanding issues to establish a viable framework of agreements, including:
The Memorandum of Understanding between the two parties; The Collective Labour Agreement;The Retainer Contracts; The Match/Tour Contract
D. The pre-tour Camp takes place from tomorrow, inclusive of all originally invited players.
E. Both parties agree to desist from making public statements prejudicial to the resolution of all issues.
The Prime Ministerial Sub Committee: Chairman: Dr the Rt Hon Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada; Hon Reginald Farley Minister of Education and Sports, Barbados; Dr Edward Greene, Assistant Secretary General, Caricom; Mr Richardson Andrews, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, Grenada.
WICB: Mr Teddy Griffith, President; Mr Roger Braithwaite, CEO; Mr Leonard Robertson, PRO; Mr Milton Samuda, Legal Adviser.
WIPA: Mr Dinanath Ramnarine, President/CEO; Dr Kusha Haraksingh, Legal Adviser; Mr David Abdulah, Labour Adviser.