BACKGROUND

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The Industrial Court was preceded by the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Code, Cap 27 (the Labour Code) which was enacted on September 19, 1975. The Labour Code includes a comprehensive set of Antigua and Barbuda’s national policies and related standards to govern the relationships between and among employers and employees. In particular, the Labour Code established minimum working conditions of affected employees and gave them, as well as employers, access to legislative machinery for the resolution of disputes.

In effect, the Labour Code provides for the whole range of employer/employee relations from basic employment, including leave privileges, remuneration, minimum wage rates and severance pay to the health, safety and welfare of workers, trade unions and industrial relations. Perhaps most importantly, the Labour Code introduced the new concept of unfair dismissal. It gave employees the new right to protection from unfair dismissal.

Before 1975, when the Labour Code was passed, there existed other well settled machinery and procedures to deal with issues affecting established employees of the Government and other special categories of employees such as police officers. In 1976, given the existing administration of justice in the High Court and the Magistrate’s Court, the Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda decided that the time had come for the introduction of the Industrial Court, a special court to deal with trade disputes, industrial actions and complaints of unfair dismissal.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COURT

The Industrial Court of Antigua & Barbuda was establishment by the Industrial Court Act, Cap 214, enacted on June 19, 1976. As constituted from time to time for a particular case, the Court usually consists of a President and two (2) other Members from a pool of Members appointed by the Governor General after consultation with the Judicial and Legal Services Commission.

It is instructive to note that the President of the Court may be a person who is not a lawyer. Section 4 of the Industrial Court Act provides that the President must be either “(i) a person with substantial background and experience in industrial relations, business administration, public administration, economics, accounts, or (ii) a lawyer of not less than ten years standing.”

Other Members of the Court must be persons “(i) who are experienced in industrial relations, business administration, public administration or qualified as economists or accountants, or (ii) who are barristers or solicitors of not less than five years standing…”

GROWTH OF THE COURT

When it was first created in 1976, the Industrial Court had one division. It was located at the Princess Elizabeth Hall, opposite the Fire Station in the area now occupied by the National Archives. The Court was headed by the first President, Justice Percival C. Lewis, and the Vice President was Mr. Franklyn Clarke. Its administrative staff included the Registrar, the Secretary and a Petty Officer. A Second Division was set up in 1981 on Redcliffe Street in the old Immigration Building. That Division was headed by the Associate President, Mr. Samuel Graham and its administrative staff included the Deputy Registrar and a Typist.

The first President served until 1981 and was succeeded by Mr. Samuel Graham (1981-1984); Justice Henry S.R. Moe (1985-1993); Mr. Radford Hill (1995-1997); Mr. Cyril L. Maundy (1997-2006); and Mr. Philip Pilgrim (2007- 2013).

By discharging its functions over 49 years of its existence, the Court has so far made an invaluable contribution to jurisprudence and the socio-economic development of Antigua and Barbuda. In a judgement delivered in 1997, Sir Dennis Byron, former President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, then the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, stated that: “‘The Industrial Court has adjudicated in the ‘largest cluster of legal rights for which redress is rigorously pursued before any Court in Antigua and Barbuda’ ‘’.

The many landmark and other important judgements delivered by the Industrial Court, some of which have been reviewed by the Court of Appeal* and the Privy Council**, include:

• Sundry Workers (AWU) v Antigua Hotels and Tourist Association; **,
• Arthur Cole and Others v George Bennett Bryson and Co. Ltd; **
• Dalma Hill and Others (AWU) v Cable & Wireless; *
• Antigua Workers’ Union (Sundry Workers) vs Joseph Dew Division; *
• Jennifer Watt v Antigua Village Condo Corporation ; *
• Margaret Berridge and Dave Edwards v Benjies Business Centre; **
• Leonard Tomlinson v LIAT (1974) Ltd; *
• James Harrison v Universal Caribbean Establishment; *
• Mary White v Antigua Commercial Bank; *
• Lesley Hoffman v Stanford Financial Group Ltd.; *
• St. Lawrence de Freitas v E. Alex Benjamin Ltd.; *
• Conrad Tongue & Others (ABWU) v Cable & Wireless; **
• Dale Abraham vs Hawksbill Hotel; *
• Sundry Workers (ABWU) v Chevron West Indies Ltd; *
• Kenny Byron v Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank; **
• Otis Teague v Antigua Public Utilities Authority;
• Denzell Otto v Antigua Public Utilities Authority;
• Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union v Cable & Wireless; *
• D Gisele Isaac v The Board of Education; *
• Michael L. Blackburn v LIAT (1974) Ltd; **
• Leonart Matthias v Antigua Commercial Bank; *
• Damon Francis v Theodore Francis t/a Theo’s Tug & Barge; *
• Wayne Weaver v St. James Club;
• Ira Looby v West Indies Oil Company Ltd.
• Sundry Workers v George Dexter Tavernier
• Sundry Workers v St. James’ Club (Antigua) Limited; *
• Lyndon Francis v Public Utilities Authority;
• Faith Piggott v Woods Pharmacy Ltd