Keynote Address by
Her Honour Mrs. Heather Seale
President, Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago
‘Striking a Balance: Management Prerogatives vs
Employee Rights in the Age of Workplace Flexibility’
at the
Employers Solution Centre
Landmark Court Judgments: A Retrospective: 2020 - 2023
I thank you for your invitation to address you on Striking a Balance: Management Prerogatives vs Employee rights in the Age of Workplace Flexibility’
Introduction
When we look at the history of the world of work and workplace relationships, it is fair to say that its origins have been in opposing or adversarial needs, competing interests. This is true or factual whether we are considering systems from which we have emerged in the Caribbean, like the plantation system or the feudal system that existed in medieval Europe. In preparing this address, I recalled that the late Lloyd Best when lecturing to his first year students in Economics would constantly remind us when studying Economics, we were actually studying phenomenon but through the lens of economics.
Similarly, it is my view that when looking at Management Prerogatives and Employee rights it is not so much that they are really diametrically opposed but it is the lens through which we are looking at what is essentially, workplace interactions, that may lead us to that conclusion. I believe you may agree with me as I delve into the subject of Management’s prerogative versus employee rights, that it is akin to looking at two sides of the same coin. Whether looking at the unfettered or unreasonable exercise of management’s prerogative or the unrestrained exertion of employee rights, both can lead to labour unrest and social instability.
Chattel slavery and its deleterious socio-economic and psychological effects was an extreme example of unfettered management prerogative. On the other side, the exuberant use of the strike as a weapon, can have a major impact on the economy, as evidenced in our own society. We need look no further than the five year period 1960 to 1964, when there were 230 strikes, an average of 46 per year resulting in a total of 803,899 man-days lost, an annual average of 100,000 man days per year.