Union leaders applaud move to make IDT awards digitally accessible
Published:Friday | December 19, 2025 | 12:05 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
A prominent trade union leader has welcomed a recent move by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) to publish its awards and related industrial relations resources on its website, describing the development as long overdue and highly beneficial to stakeholders.
President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), St Patrice Ennis, praised the initiative, noting that practitioners in industrial relations have, for years, been calling for the tribunal’s rulings to be more easily accessible.
He said ready access to IDT awards would not only assist practitioners and parties appearing before the tribunal but would also help inform human resource departments and workplaces in both the public and private sectors about precedent-setting decisions handed down by the quasi-judicial body.
According to Ennis, cases adjudicated by the IDT, along with provisions of the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA) and the Labour Relations Code, are of significant importance to those involved in labour and industrial relations.
“It provides easy access because oftentimes, what used to happen is that persons would normally have to engage practitioners, and so on, but now it is at their fingertips,” he said.
Ennis explained that previously, practitioners were required to request physical copies of IDT awards and visit the tribunal’s offices to collect the documents after paying a nominal printing fee.
He also commended IDT Chairman Errol Miller for his “steadfastness” in bringing the website to fruition and making the tribunal’s decisions more accessible to the public.
“We from the Confederation really laud this step and believe that we have to raise our hats to the person at the IDT for bringing this to fruition,” he said.
Bustamante Industrial Trade Union President General Kavan Gayle said the website is an important means of showcasing test cases to practitioners, particularly against the background where the LRIDA now provides the opportunity for non-unionised cases to be heard by a tribunal.
“This opening up now provides the opportunity for improvement in terms of awareness [and] research on these test cases so that it can give workers, employers, and their representatives first-hand knowledge in terms of the inner workings of the tribunal,” he said.
The official launch of the IDT’s website formed part of activities marking the tribunal’s 50th anniversary.
Labour and Social Security Minister Pearnel Charles Jr said the webpage was a critical step for transparency and access.
“Anyone can log on, see the awards, and understand the processes, so workplace decisions are aligned with the law and better industrial relations,” he said.
Miller, the IDT chairman, said the work of the tribunal was now more in the public domain than it was before, adding that practitioners, students, and workplace leaders would benefit from easier access to decisions and guidance on industrial relations.
The webpage provides a structured library of IDT awards, with recent decisions already live and earlier matters to be uploaded on a rolling basis.