Of the one hundred and fifty cases brought before the Industrial Dispute Tribunal (IDT) between 2010 and 2019, 124 of the dismissals were ruled to be unjustifiable. This means that the reason or reasons for the employee’s dismissal given by the employer were not rational and possibly unfair.
In 2010 when the study began, amendments were also made to the Labour Relations and Dispute Act which allowed for non-unionized workers to have their disputes of right heard before the IDT.
Head of the Hugh Shearer Labour Studies Institute, Danny Roberts, is linking the disparity to one of two things.
He says its either caused by a lack of knowledge of the Act on the part of the employee or the arrogance of the employer.
The study indicates that 82 % of the one hundred and fifty cases were from the private sector while the remaining 18 belongs to the public sector.
Of the 82 % in the private sector, fifteen percent came from the security industry, banking, and finance twelve percent, manufacturing 11%, and distribution 1 percent.
A total of 25 percent of private-sector cases were not identified.
Roberts states that there is a deficiency in industrial relations practices in the workplace.
He further notes UWI Mona will be offering a Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations this September with the hope of making the practice more common within organizations.
CF
