The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

National Insurance Board (NIB) employees will today seek a Supreme Court ruling that the minister of labour acted illegally when he cancelled their strike poll last week.

Obie Ferguson, attorney for the Union of Public Officers which represents NIB line workers, argued that Dion Foulkes had acted “ultra vires” and breached the Industrial Relations Act when he deemed Friday’s strike poll invalid.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) president confirmed to Tribune Business that he and the union are due to appear before Supreme Court justice Indra Charles today in a bid to obtain an Order requiring the minister of labour to conduct the strike poll.

Mr Ferguson said: “We are making an application to the court that the minister acted ultra vires via the Industrial Relations Act when he stopped the union from conducting a poll to determine whether or not the workers are desirous of going on strike.

“Before the vote he cancelled the poll that would have determined if the workers wanted to strike or whether they didn’t. The union poll was scheduled for October 25 at 10am, and on the afternoon of October 24 he cancelled it.

“So we are going to court to seek an order of mandamus ordering the minister to conduct a poll to allow the members of the bargaining unit to decide whether they want a strike or whether they don’t want it,” Mr Ferguson continued.

“A proper union properly instructed would call a meeting and give the minister two clear days’ notice advising him of the date, time and place of the poll, and the minister is obligated by law to have a designated officer to appear and supervise the poll.”

John Pinder, director of labour, last week explained that the strike poll was deemed invalid because there were technical deficiencies with the union’s application. Yet many workers still went ahead and voted unaware of the Department of Labour’s decision.

Meanwhile, Dr Nicola Virgill-Rolle, NIB’s director, said there had been no disruptions to NIB’s operations as a result of the union’s “work to rule”, which means that employees will not go beyond their job descriptions in terms of the tasks they perform.

“We continue to take in claims to do our normal processing and function. That is key because the whole point of what we do is to serve the public,” she said.

“We are serving people who are in need of a retirement benefit, maternity benefit and in need of sickness benefit. It’s a very important role NIB plays and we are focused on maintaining customer focused through this difficult time.”