Canto wins its appeal..
but can it fulfill its mandate
By Peter Hanoomansingh
When the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago ruled in favour of the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organisations (CANTO) in May 1997, it added another curious chapter to a drama that began with the controversial dismissal of four employees less than two years earlier.
This was a drama that coincided with critical changes in the nature and composition of Canto, which had become a powerful and internationally respected organisation.
Canto had begun as an organisation of nationally owned telephone companies intended to counter the power of multinational telecommunications companies in the region, particularly Britain's Cable and Wireless.
The idea of such an organisation took off immediately when it
was first broached by Clarence Hordatt of Trinidad and Tobago's
telephone company (Telco.) Canto quickly became one of the most
successful examples of Caribbean integration being consulted and
wooed by other third world groupings, and even countries in Latin
America were actively lobbying for membership in the group.
By the early 1990s however, acceding to pressure from the international
financial institutions, Caribbean governments began a programme
of divestment and privatisation of state-owned telecommunications
companies.
With this taking place, the role of Canto had to be re-examined.
Changes were also happening on the international stage. The United
States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), began lobbying
for regional phone companies to reduce accounting rates.
The stridently nationalist tenor of Canto began changing once
the organisation amended its constitution in 1991 to accommodate
multinational companies, and two representatives were then allowed
on the Board of Directors.
By 1997, Canto and the multinationals, essentially Cable and Wireless,
were singing the same song on the issue of accounting rates and
were all strongly opposed to the approach taken by the FCC.
At the helm for ten formative years at Canto was Secretary General
Felipe Noguera, a Harvard graduate with a post graduate degree
in International Space and Telecommunications Law.
Noguera became a powerful voice for Canto, and was widely respected
in the international arena to the extent that he was eventually
appointed to serve on the Telecommunications Development Advisory
Board of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
He had lectured widely on telecommunications issues in the third
world and was played a role in getting two developing countries,
Cuba and the Bahamas, into the administrative council of the ITU
in 1994.
It was Noguera himself who would become the centre of attention
when he was abruptly dismissed from CANTO. No explanation was
offered for the sudden action which was a directive of the Chairman
of CANTO, Iris Struiken-Wijdenbosch, and Noguera was asked to
vacate his office by 4.30 pm that same day.
These facts were never disputed in the decision handed down by
Industrial Court judges Addison Khan and Lenore James. In fact,
the case is well detailed in the 16 page document.
What the Court upheld was the submission by Canto's legal counsel,
Karl Hudson -Phillips who had argued that neither Noguera nor
former General Manager of the organisation Peter Daly, could be
termed "employee" under the meaning of the Industrial
Court Act.
Moreover, the Court also accepted Hudson-Phillips' argument that
Canto was not an incorporated body and therefore could not qualify
as a legal entity, and therefore as an identifiable employer.
"In the circumstances, we find that the disputes do not qualify
as trade disputes which are justiciable before this Court,"
concluded Vice President of the Industrial Court Addison Khan.
Yet, the judgement would continue for another ten pages before
concluding that Noguera, Daly and their colleagues George Goddard
and Germaine McShine, were "guilty of gross misconduct",
and were indeed the "authors of their own dismissals".
The Court did not seek to entertain the submission of any evidence
by Canto.
According to the Industrial Court ruling, Daly, Goddard and McShine
were dismissed for their "refusal to accept the decision
and authority of the Board of Directors of Canto to dismiss Noguera
from the post of Secretary General of Canto."
The three were also dismissed because they had supposedly refused
to accept the appointment of Carl Lewis to the post of Acting
Secretary General of the organisation.
George Goddard, at the time the Manager of Information Systems,
and one of the three who was subsequently dismissed on November
6th 1995 claims that no one had been informed of the appointment
of Lewis to the post of Secretary General.
Noguera for his part appeared to have a running battle with Struiken-Wijdenbosch
ever since she was appointed by Telesur (Suriname) to replace
John Neede the former Chairman of Canto by Telesur in 1993.
After spending just six months as Chairman, Neede himself had
been removed from the post in bizarre circumstances when he was
put under house arrest on sexual harassment charges.
Struiken-Wijdenbosch, a close relative of Surinamese President
Jan Wijdenbosch, was appointed Chairman of Canto in November 1993.
As Director of Human Resources and Legal Affairs at Telesur, she
became the first Canto Chairman who was not Chief Executive Officer,
and immediately began challenging a legal agreement signed between
Canto and Canto Limited.
That agreement established a legal relationship between the incorporated
Canto Limited which had been registered as a limited liability
company in March 1989, and Canto the regional association of telecommunications
companies.
Legal opinion had in fact been requested by Struiken-Widjenbosch
on the validity of the agreement. Ellis Clarke, an esteemed lawyer
and former President of Trinidad and Tobago, gave an opinion supporting
the document.
Strangely, the issue of the agreement was never raised in the
Industrial Court ruling, and the judges Khan and James accepted
the argument offered by Hudson-Phillips that Canto was unincorporated
and had had no legal personality.
Noguera and Daly held one share each in Canto Limited, which had
a nominal share capital value of $50,000, and which increased
dramatically to $950,000 in 1994.
In February 1995, Chairman Wijdenbosch reportedly requested through
legal counsel Karl Hudson-Phillips, a transfer of the shares from
Noguera and Daly to a senior executive at Batelco of the Bahamas.
Noguera indicated that he would sign over his share when the required
procedural conditions were met, but Daly acceded to the request
and signed the form.
In September, Noguera was prevented from attending a meeting of
Inmarsat in the Dominican Republic, and was replaced by Struiken-Widjenbosch
and Neville Calliste, the Vice-Chairman of Canto.
The following month, Noguera was invited by the International
Telecommunications Union to act as rapporteur at the World Development
Summit in Geneva which had as special guest South African President
Nelson Mandela.
Again, Noguera was prevented from attending the summit. To circumvent
this he took vacation leave and sponsored his own trip. When he
returned, the letter of dismissal virtually awaited him.
"We think it was fair", says current Secretary General
Carl Lewis referring to the judgement, "and it dealt with
the facts.
"What the judge has listed is what the four people gave in
their evidence. They essentially condemned themselves", he
explained.
Asked to respond to whether Canto required to be an incorporated
body in order to do business, Lewis chuckled: "apparently
not".
Executive Time "Online" also has a printed version
which is available throughout the Caribbean and some selected
North American cities.
For information about subscriptions and advertising for both the "Online" and in the printed version.
