Former long-serving Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke has sued the trade union over its failure to pay him a pension.
Duke, who resigned from the post in December 2021 in order to fulfil his short-lived role as Tobago House of Assembly (THA) deputy chief secretary, filed the breach of contract case against the PSA earlier this month.
In the lawsuit, Duke is contending that the union breached his employment contract by failing to pay his allegedly legitimate pension.
In his court filings, obtained by Guardian Media, Duke’s lawyers Farai Hove-Masaisai and Chelsea Edwards claimed that before he took charge of the union in 2009, the union’s General Council passed two resolutions on pensions for full-time officers under the tenure of former PSA president and Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus.
One resolution removed the age requirement for receiving a pension meaning that those who served as a full-time officer for ten continuous years and held a particular position for four continuous years, were eligible for a pension.
The other sought to increase pension benefits from 50 per cent of the last salary an officer received to two-thirds.
Duke’s lawyers admitted that in September 2010, the union’s General Council passed another resolution rescinding the previous two on the basis that only the union’s Conference of Delegates could have made the changes.
The General Council also passed a resolution to ensure that its officers were afforded the same retirement benefits as public servants of a similar rank and status.
Duke’s lawyers also noted a decision by the conference in March 2004 to approve pension recommendations.
It was recommended that pensions be paid when a full-time officer turned 50 with varying calculations based on the time they served in the union.
Edwards claimed that when Duke resigned from the union after 12 years and at 45 years of age in December 2021, it was based on the understanding that he would receive a pension based on the 2009 resolutions.
“These resolutions constituted an acquired right and/or a contractual term of the claimant’s office as president of the defendant from the time he assumed the office,” Edwards said as she noted that the terms could not be unilaterally varied by the union.
In September 2022, Duke resigned from his THA post after a disagreement with Chief Secretary Farley Augustine over funding for a group of folk performers from Roxborough, who were stranded on a trip to New York.
Duke, who is the political leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP), still served as the THA assembly member for Roxborough/Argyle.
Edwards claimed that Duke’s successor in the PSA, Leroy Baptiste, gave him assurances over his pension before seeking an independent legal opinion on the issue.
Edwards suggested that the 2009 resolutions were binding as they were not subsequently overturned by the conference.
“The General Council cannot rescind its own decision, especially in the circumstances where the decision created a better pension entitlement to full-time officers of the PSA,” she said.
She also claimed that it would be unconscionable for Baptiste and the union to be able to renege on assurances given to her client. Edwards claimed that Duke had suffered severe financial hardships by not receiving the pension.
“The claimant has been unable to meet his financial obligations, leading to unpaid debts and legal actions from creditors, including banks, over non-payment of loans and credit cards,” Edwards said.
She claimed he had an outstanding $130,000 credit card debt and missed payments on his mortgage.
“The claimant is now facing the imminent risk of being declared bankrupt by the courts due to his inability to pay his debts,” she said.
Edwards pointed out that such insolvency proceedings would mean that he would not be able to contest the next general election.
“This would cause irreparable harm to the claimant’s political career and deprive the electorate of their choice of representative,” she said.
Through the lawsuit, Duke is seeking a series of declarations against the union and compensation for breach of contract.
He is also seeking the payment of his alleged pension benefits for the past two years, which was estimated to be over $700,000.
Last year, Baptiste-Primus filed a lawsuit over the failure of the union to periodically increase her pension.
She filed the case after Duke indicated in 2019 that the increase was not possible as her pension was already more than two-thirds of his potential benefits at the time and because the union had not completed any recent salary negotiations.
However, the case was rejected at a preliminary stage by High Court Judge Frank Seepersad, who stated that it was without merit, offensive and was an abuse of the court’s process.
He noted that the right to receive increases was covered by a consent order between her and the PSA. He declined to interfere with the order on the basis that Baptiste-Primus had received increases based on it with the last coming in 2015.