UPDATE: Georges responds cautiously to House of Assembly attack!
According to Georges, this failure over a prolonged period to appoint the Tribunal is a breach of the law and has caused injustice to a number of employees who cannot feel that their grievances have been fairly addressed and determined.
This was part of a press statement released today December 19, 2012 by the Complaints Commissioner as he sought to subtly counter respond to statements made by the Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Dr Kedrick Pickering who was the first speaker to debate the budget in the House of Assembly on December 17, 2012 and referred to Georges approach as “Old School.”
"We must observe that the Labour Code was in preparation and discussion for many years prior to its passage in July, 2010. There was more than ample time for the Government to have laid the groundwork for the essential infrastructure to be put in place...The Government, in my view, should make a public statement on the position and the House of Assembly needs to look at this matter urgently to see how the continuing breach and injustices can be brought to an end as soon as possible. The needs of the several working people affected by this matter require this kind of attention,” Mr Georges stated.
The Complaints Commissioner explained that in late October he wrote to the Minister to regret that he had to consider the submission of a special report to the House in a case in which a "poor woman" had failed to get anywhere with an approach to the Labour Department about the failure of her employers to pay her regular wages for months and to pay overtime or vacation pay for years. “The original complaint to Labour was made in September, 2010. The complaint to our office was filed in August 2011. I issued my investigation report to the Department and Ministry in February, 2012. The point of main concern for this statement is that successive administrations have failed in 24 months to appoint the key body of the Labour Code, 2010 for final dispute resolution: the Arbitral Tribunal.” said Georges in his statement.
He further said the Code stipulates that if the Labour Commissioner fails to bring about a settlement between employee and employer within 30 days she must refer the complaint to the Minister with her report. The Minister then attempts to get the parties to agree. If he fails to do so within 21 days (or a longer period, if the parties agree) then he must refer the dispute to a Board of Inquiry set up by the Minister for the particular case or to the Arbitral Tribunal that the Code says must be in place.
The referral to a Board would be indicated for the sort of individual complaint where the employment is not an essential service and no danger to the health or safety of employees, “…or the public is involved. But, very importantly, the parties must agree beforehand to accept the recommendation of the Board. If they do not, then the Minister must refer the matter to the Tribunal. In the case of the complainant I mentioned above, the dispute was eventually sent to the Minister some 18 months – rather than 30 days – after it was first filed and the Minister attempted a settlement, without success. The Ministry informed us in midyear that it would be referred to the Tribunal. But no Tribunal has yet been put in place.” he added.
Georges expressed that based on his knowledge, the Tribunal should consist of three persons including the Chairman, who must be an experienced attorney-at-law of ten years standing. “The Tribunal operates independently and its decisions are binding on the parties except for an appeal to the High Court on a point of law only,” adding that The Ministry for Natural Resources and Labour, from information that the Permanent Secretary provided, made an attempt earlier in this year to have the Tribunal appointed, but by July the attempt had apparently fallen through over last minute difficulties that developed in negotiations with the prospective Chairman. According to him, fresh attempts to secure another Chairman were underway.
During the House of Assembly budget debate Premier Dr the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, while touching on the issues, had said that the position of the Complaint Commissioner was a constitutional one that the government was interested in developing because they felt it’s a position that would help make the public service more responsive to the needs of clients, which is in essence the population of the Virgin Islands (VI).
“I know that eventually as time goes by this would happen because it works in other parts of the world and it is already seeming to have some effects as many people are already starting to visit the office of the Commissioner.” said Premier Smith.
He strongly expressed the view that there has to be a better working relationship between the Office of the Commissioner and the various branches and ministries of the government of the Virgin Islands so that it could be effective.
See previous article posted on December 17, 2012
Labour Minister lashes out at Complaints Commissioner over ‘old school’ approach
- Says constant issuing of memos by Complaints Commissioner is demeaning
From a “purely statistical point of view”, the number of complaints against the Labour Department has decreased, however, the Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Dr Kedrick Pickering is upset with the approach of writing memos by the Complaints Commissioner and has criticised it as being “old school” and a hindrance to human capital development.
The first speaker to debate the budget in the House of Assembly on December 17, 2012 Hon. Pickering said “all of us have been bombarded by the Complaints Commissioner and confidential reports and this is a complaint against the Complaints Commissioner and I hope he is listening. The way things work and the way things used to be cannot be the way going forward. You can’t run a country where every single thing got to get a memo, you have to write everything.”
The Complaints Commissioner is Mr Elton Georges.
According to Hon. Pickering, the Complaints Commissioner should have the alternative of calling the Minister or a Head of Department to “just ask a simple question. Got to write a long Memo literally castigating the Head of Department, it goes on the individual’s file, its demeaning, we can’t run a country like that.”
One of the issues the Complaints Commissioner reportedly has, according to Hon. Pickering, is that the Ministry has not been referring issues to the Labour Dispute Tribunal but noted the tribunal is non-functional at the moment due to the absence of a “head”.
“A simple phone call could have basically explained to him that we have extreme difficulty trying to set up the Labour Dispute Tribunal. We cannot find somebody to serve in the position as the head of the tribunal. We went so far as getting Cabinet approval for somebody who then, six months later, declined the position because of other work commitments and since then we have been butting our heads trying to find somebody to head the dispute tribunal but he keeps writing in his Memo about we need to refer...what we going to refer to this tribunal when we don’t have any?”
“But it is a complaint against the Complaints Commissioner. He needs to change his approach, I hope he is listening. The old school boy way of writing people memo trying to frighten off people, tell he change that and the country could run better. You can’t develop the human capital of your country when you keep intimidating people. That needs to change man, and I hope he hear that. He and I could sit down and debate it over a cup of juice."
Earlier, Minister Pickering noted one of the big challenges facing the Labour Department was the issuing of work permits, however, there have been significant improvement there.
He disclosed that from January 2012 to the end of November, the Labour Department issued 641 new work permits. The total number of work permits that were issued, including new and renewed, was 7635.
The budget debate is in recess.
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39 Responses to “UPDATE: Georges responds cautiously to House of Assembly attack!”
The hounourable (and I use that term loosely) minister and Deputy Premier should be thoroughly ashamed of himself!
It is HE who is demeaning. It is HE who needs to change his approach and it is HE who needs to listen!
Elton is doing his job and following up on problems that have been brought to light. That is what he is paid to do. He is one of few who is on top of things and always faces challenges, adversities and even blatant disrespect from government officials with grace and steadfast calm. To call him out in public like this (FOR DOING HIS JOB PROPERLY) is a complete disgrace to the office of the Deputy Premier and all Virgin Islanders.
If the heat is too hot for you to handle ~ get out of the kitchen! Step down if you can't deal with the pressures of the office. We all expect much better than this from our elected officials.
Wow!
Kedrick, blow that crap out of you a$$! You may usually say sensible things but this is DUMB and more so, not helpful in a society that needs all the help it can get in creating an efficient govt service.
Try your best and find someone to head the Tribunal instead of blaming Elton for professionally doing a great job for all of us that don't have a voice.
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves". [Philippians 2:3]
decades I know Mr. Georges is a respectful man of good character and honest. Dr. Pickering prove to be a li@r an a w!cked man. Many suffered under his hands but too afraid to express it. Mr. Georges don't be bullied by him. Keep doing right by the people an show Dr. Pickering leadership quality we can all benefit from.