Law Association president Reginald Armour says the body will look at the matter in which the Industrial Court has summoned members of the T&T Chamber of Commerce to court at its next general meeting.
However, Armour yesterday admitted he could not say much, as he is representing one of the parties in the case.
“What I would say is this, I have to be careful with what I am about to say … I am representing Mr Derek Ali and in those circumstances as the president of the law association I would rather not to comment. However, it is a matter that will engage the attention of the association.”
In a move that stunned many earlier this week, the Industrial Court summoned Gabriel Faria, the chamber and two other men on a charge of contempt of court, over statements made by businessman Frank Mouttet at a chamber event recently.
The summons was issued by the registrar of the Industrial Court and witnessed by presiden Deborah Thomas-Felix.
At the event, Mouttet said the Industrial Court was to be blamed for decreased levels of productivity in the country, which was making it increasingly difficult for employers to terminate workers.
He was also said to have hinted that the court was harsh and oppressive towards employers while favouring workers and their representative unions.
Media reports also claimed Mouttet suggested the court had made retrenchment into a business, whereby employees were now “lining up to be fired” in order to receive compensation.
At at event in May, Thomas-Felix had defended the work of the court from similar criticism.
“It is public information that for the period 2011 to 2015, 2,744 cases were determined by the Industrial Court of which only 34 judgements were appealed, 27 per cent (747 matters) were disposed of by judgements through the adversarial process (and) of those 747 judgements, 230 (30 percent) were in favour of employers,” Thomas-Felix had said then.
“In the Court’s conciliation (non-adversarial) process, 15.6 per cent (427 matters) were disposed by conciliation, 19.6 per cent (539) were disposed bilaterally and 24.9 per cent (683 matters) were withdrawn.
“The matters withdrawn were withdrawn by unions when it was accepted that the disputes did not have any chance of success. In other words, the employer won.”
The Court asserted then that the total percentage of disputes resolved in favour of employers during the period 2011 to 2015 was 54.9 per cent.