West Indies Cricket Fans

West Indies Cricket Insider can confirm that a Judge in the High Court of Trinidad and Tobago tonight granted the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) an injunction keeping the terms of the CBA/MOU between the WICB and WIPA in full force and effect. The two parties had commenced negotiations on a new agreement in August with the WICB saying in a press release that it was its opinion that the agreements expired on September 30 despite Article VI of the CBA stating clearly that the agreements “shall remain in force until revised and such revisions signed by the Parties to the agreement. “ In September, the two parties agreed to extend negotiations to November 30 while reserving their positions on the status of the agreement.

WIPA Lead Negotiator Dave Kissoon wrote to WICB CEO Dr. Ernest Hilaire in October to arrange a negotiation session which the board denied and said would prefer to engage in document exchange and markup. WIPA submitted their documents and again in November, Kissoon twice wrote to Hilaire in November to arrange negotiating sessions before the negotiation deadline of November 30. Kissoon also wrote to Hilaire on November 18, 2011 for a further extension to which the WICB did not reply.

Hilaire replied both times to Kissoon that he was unavailable to negotiate. It since turns out that Hilaire was unavailable as he was campaigning for the St Lucia Labour Party in the general elections held on November 28. The WICB then wrote saying they were available to meet on the last day of November 30 in Antigua, which would have prevented WIPA from going to court on that date since the CBA/MOU is under the Trinidad and Tobago jurisdiction. WIPA informed the WICB that should the WICB insist on the termination they may have to seek the assistance of the Court on November 27th as the WICB CEO failed to respond to WIPA’s emails and furthermore refused to meet.

With the CEO Dr. Hilaire, who has called the current agreement “unworkable and that he would breach if he has to”, proposing a number of radical changes to the CBA/MOU within a matter of months, the WICB attempted to force WIPA to accept such terms under duress by threatening to terminate the agreement. With the extreme changes to the CBA/MOU proposed, WIPA knew that one day of negotiations on November 30 would not result in a new agreement that was mutually satisfactory to both parties. With the WICB holding its position regarding the termination of the CBA/MOU, WIPA was left with no choice but to assemble their documents and go to court.

joshua wrote:Guyanese Bhai f**king them up!! Westdem, Bally allyuh know Kissoon father is a PNC man?

Westdem wrote:

joshua wrote:Guyanese Bhai f**king them up!! Westdem, Bally allyuh know Kissoon father is a PNC man?

No I didn't know dat...I taught its now APNU...Is his dad Frederick?

joshua wrote:

Westdem wrote:

joshua wrote:Guyanese Bhai f**king them up!! Westdem, Bally allyuh know Kissoon father is a PNC man?

No I didn't know dat...I taught its now APNU...Is his dad Frederick?

former PNC chairman Ramesh Kissoon!!!

WICB lawyers apologized for their client’s absence because of more pressing issues and have indicated that they would challenge the decision given by the Judge as early as next week based on the instructions of the WICB CEO Dr. Ernest Hilaire.