Senior Reporter
The Trinidad and Tobago National Nurses Association (TTNNA) is threatening legal action against the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) over what it describes as illegal four-hour shifts for nursing and midwifery personnel.
Speaking with Guardian Media after the TTNNA issued a statement on the matter yesterday, association president Idi Stuart said the alteration of the shifts by the NCRHA was done without any prior consultation or agreement with the union.
He said if management cannot identify the policy, collective agreement, regulation or contractual provision that authorises the NCRHA to require nursing and midwifery personnel to report for duty under such an arrangement, then they should refuse to work those shifts.
“Nursing personnel have already informed the association that they have been asking for this policy, the management saying they can’t send the policy, something will be issued shortly. So already we are realising that whoever gave that directive was really speaking from a place of ignorance, thinking that they could actually have done something like that.”
Stuart said he had sent a letter to the CEO requesting a meeting yesterday; however, the association’s attorneys have already been engaged.
“If the NCRHA doesn’t pull back on this directive, we would initiate legal action against the NCRHA. And if it’s 400 nurses affected, we will individually take action on each and every single member. So, the court will be bombarded with legal action if this ludicrous position is not rescinded.”
In the statement, the association said the decision comes at a time when the authority continues to grapple with a severe shortage of nursing and midwifery personnel.
“Rather than implementing sustainable measures to recruit and retain staff, the TTNNA complained that the NCRHA has progressively reduced the availability of extra-duty (“pool”) shifts, leaving many units critically understaffed.”
The association further claimed that nurses are increasingly being placed in unsafe working environments, with some being pressured to work alone or in situations that fall below accepted standards of safe patient care.
“Now, instead of addressing the root cause of the crisis—the chronic shortage of staff—the NCRHA has introduced a four-hour shift arrangement that has no known basis in the existing terms and conditions of employment for nursing and midwifery personnel and was implemented without meaningful consultation.”
The association said employers cannot unilaterally impose new working arrangements that significantly alter established conditions of service without due process, consultation, and legal authority.
Beyond the legal implications, the Association said the decision has practical and financial consequences for staff.
Weighing in on the matter, former health minister Dr Fuad Khan said that, under the RHA Act, the minister can give both general and specific directions to an RHA.
“So, you have to be very sure who is giving the RHA chairman the strength and the approval to do that because I haven’t heard the minister give any utterances in this whole regard.”
Khan, however, said an RHA cannot unilaterally make such a significant change to nurses’ working arrangements.
“They’re not supposed to take away consideration or change terms of work without proper discussions, negotiations and according to the Industrial Relations Act that has to be taken into consideration,” he said.
Meanwhile, NCRHA chairman Dr Tim Gopeesingh declined to comment, saying the authority would no longer be making any public comments on such matters and would instead focus on patient care.
In recent months, there have been ongoing disputes between the TTNNA and the leadership of the NCRHA over issues involving the union, its members and the health authority. The disagreements have centred on stagnant salaries, staffing shortages and working conditions.
Neither Health Minister Dr Lackram Bodoe nor Minister in the Ministry of Health Rishad Seecharan responded to requests from Guardian Media for a comment.
