Public Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago v Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority (Trinidad and Tobago)

A statutory deeming provision must be construed in its statutory context and in light of its purpose. Its fiction extends to consequences necessary to give effect to that purpose, but not to provisions that would defeat or nullify it. Where legislation deems a union to be certified, provisions governing an application for certification do not apply if there is no application. The deeming may nevertheless leave procedural steps concerning the issue and recording of the certificate in force. Until those steps are completed, the union has deemed status but the employer’s statutory duty to recognise it and bargain with it has not crystallised.

Former civil servants transferred to the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority (“the CAA”) in 2001. Their previous union representation ceased. Section 26A of the Civil Aviation Act, inserted by the Civil Aviation (Amendment) Act 2003, deemed the Public Services Association to be the certified recognised majority union for the relevant CAA bargaining unit, subject to the Industrial Relations Act.

The Recognition Board later certified the Association after an application, but the High Court quashed that certification. The Industrial Court subsequently dismissed the Association’s complaint that the CAA had committed an offence by failing to bargain with it. The Court of Appeal allowed the Association’s appeal and directed a reference to the Recognition Board. The Privy Council considered the construction of section 26A, the effect of “subject to the Industrial Relations Act”, and whether certification procedures under sections 37 and 41 remained outstanding.

1. Appeal and cross-appeal. The Association’s appeal was allowed to the extent of declaring that it was deemed under section 26A of the Civil Aviation Act to be the recognised majority union for the relevant monthly paid/monthly rated CAA workers. The CAA’s cross-appeal was also allowed, and the industrial relations complaint was dismissed.
2. Construction of the deeming provision. Statutory meaning is determined from text, context and purpose. A deeming provision is applied to the extent required by its purpose and to consequences which inevitably flow from the fiction, but not so far as to produce an unjust, absurd or anomalous result unless clear language requires it. Section 26A was enacted to preserve the Association’s successionary representation of former civil aviation civil servants transferred to the CAA.
3. The words “subject to the Industrial Relations Act” do not make the deeming subject to every provision of that Act. In particular, section 38(4), which bars an application for certification in one essential industry where the claimant union is already certified in another, does not apply. Section 38 is directed to applications, and deemed certification involves no application. Applying section 38(4) would nullify section 26A.
4. The deeming encompasses the certification process up to and including the certification decision under section 34. It does not dispense with the issue of a certificate under section 37 or the entry of its particulars in the recognised majority union record under section 41(1). Section 41(2) means that the union is treated as the recognised majority union for the purposes of the Act only once those particulars have been recorded.
5. Accordingly, the Association had deemed status but the CAA’s duty under section 40(1), and the related offence under section 40(2), had not yet crystallised. The Recognition Board was required to issue the certificate and make the record entry. The complaint was therefore dismissed.

• Privy Council: Public Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago v Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority, [2025] UKPC 40. The Association’s appeal was allowed to the extent of granting the declaration, and the CAA’s cross-appeal was allowed.
• Court of Appeal of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago: On 13 February 2023, the court allowed the Association’s appeal, set aside the Industrial Court’s decision and directed the question of recording the Association as the certified recognised majority union to the Recognition Board. The ex-tempore judgment is cited as CA P No 271/2022.
• Industrial Court: On 9 November 2022, in IRO No 3/2018, the court held that the Association was not the certified recognised majority union and dismissed its complaint.
• High Court: The court quashed the Recognition Board’s earlier certificate of recognition. No appeal was brought against that decision.