Works and Trans­port Min­is­ter Ro­han Sinanan has spo­ken out about the im­passe be­tween the Port Au­thor­i­ty and the the SWW­TU.

Re­spond­ing to a ques­tion in par­lia­ment about the im­me­di­ate steps be­ing tak­en by gov­ern­ment to ad­dress con­cerns aris­ing out of the port im­passe, he said recog­nised that the dead­lock stemmed from the union’s re­fusal to ac­cept the ap­proved wage of­fer by the Port Au­thor­i­ty and that there was no oblig­a­tion to ho­n­our a 2015 mem­o­ran­dum of agree­ment.

“The MOA was signed by the then board of the Port Au­thor­i­ty of TT which iden­ti­fied a 12 per­cent wage in­crease with­out fol­low­ing the ac­cept­able prac­tice.

This prac­tice in re­spect of state en­ti­ties is that the sub­mis­sion will be put for­ward and guide­lines put for­ward for the perime­ters with­in each or­ga­ni­za­tion each ne­go­ti­a­tion should be held.

At this time it is a com­mit­tee called the Hu­man Re­source Ad­vi­so­ry Com­mit­tee, in 2015 it was a sim­i­lar in­ter min­is­te­r­i­al com­mit­tee chaired by min­is­ter Howai. Based on the le­gal ad­vice from two se­nior coun­sels the PATT and SWW­TU were ad­vised that the MOA is not en­force­able.”

Asked by Op­po­si­tion MP Rudy In­dars­ingh if he was able to dis­close the names of the se­nior coun­sels to pro­vide ad­vice on the mat­ter, Sinanan said he was un­able to do as the mat­ter could po­ten­tial­ly head to the courts.

“Based on the dis­cus­sions and stage of the ne­go­ti­a­tions it would be im­prop­er of me to make those avail­able based on im­pend­ing court ac­tion that may come out of this de­ci­sion.”