00:00Around 4,000 trainees are enrolled in the government's on-the-job training program at present.
00:06According to OJT director Joanne David, females exceed males on all five stipend levels of the OJT.
00:15And some of the issues that we would have had in the workplace was bullying, sexual harassment,
00:22and all of the gamut of issues that you would find out in society that was exhibiting itself within the
00:32program.
00:33It was one of the reasons a psychologist was introduced on staff from 2019 to 2022.
00:39A follow-up to David's pronouncement from JSE member Sean Sobers has led to this revelation.
00:46How many allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace have come to your attention?
00:59I don't have the figures with me now, but I can say on an average within the tenure of the
01:07psychologist,
01:08because the contract was for three years, the reporting numbers would be anywhere probably in the range of about 50.
01:18David states that when the cases are examined, at times they translate to bullying and harassment,
01:25and not necessarily sexual harassment based on its definition.
01:29But she hasn't drawn a clear distinction as to whether the figure provided refers to the latter.
01:35As for repercussions, David signals that sometimes the training provider can be terminated from the OJT program,
01:42leading to a further probe by JSE chairman Dr. Desiree Murray.
01:46That doesn't sound like a serious consequence for such a serious act.
01:54Well, Madam Chair, some of it reaches the police, so therefore the police will take action based on the law
02:02of Trinidad and Tobago.
02:04However, David outlines that no matter has reached that stage under her tenure.
02:09The OJT director says placement and marketing officers of the trainees act as the first line of reporting for problems
02:17they may face.
02:18So each officer has anywhere between 200 to 250 trainees in their portfolios.
02:27It's a concern for the JSE.
02:31Apart from that, the psychological services which David indicates were introduced as a pilot initiative of sorts are no more.
02:39The contract came to an end, the position was not renewed, and we currently don't have a psychologist on the
02:46program.
02:46So we have no support currently.
02:48Making matters worse is that the employee assistance program is not afforded to the trainees,
02:54and a sought-after collaboration with the previous line ministry, which was labor, yielded no results.
03:01So I don't know under the Ministry of Tertiary Education if that is something that would be considered.
03:06Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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