The recent decision by the trade union movement to withdraw from the National Tripartite Advisory Council could not have come at a more inopportune time.

That’s according to Planning Minister Camille Robinson Regis, who notes the Council’s 5th anniversary will be celebrated in four days.

Robinson-Regis lamented that by choosing to leave the table, the unions have denied themselves the self-satisfaction of being advised first hand of the rewards of their own labor, many of which she said were about to bear fruit.

“Fortunately, NTAC is at the crossroads. Over the past year the three Social Partners, Government, Labour and Private Sector, have arrived at consensus at making recommendations to position the Council much closer to the territorial domain of the Cabinet. We have identified the range of National Development Initiatives which we have agreed that the Cabinet should refer for NTAC’s advice,” Minister Robinson Regis said in a statement.

“So, while we are not in any way dismissive of whatever may be the concerns of the Trade Union Sector, we are not ruling out the fact that the door is open for them to return to NTAC where they can be most effective and they symbiotically belong,” she noted.