PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Regional players body, WIPA, have appointed directors Dave Kissoon and Michael Hall to lead its negotiations with the West Indies Cricket Board to revise the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The current CBA, which regularises the relationship between WIPA and the WICB, expires in September, and the two sides begin negotiations today in the Trinidad & Tobago capital aimed at making revisions to the existing document.
“We want to aid the negotiation process and foster free discourse among the parties,” said WIPA Executive President Dinanath Ramnarine in a media release.
“This way, there can be no doubt at all about the constructive approach we intend to use, and the positive spirit which we will take to the negotiations.”
He said: “We have appointed two independent and impartial leaders in Caribbean dispute resolution to head our team – Dave Kissoon and Michael Hall.
“We have done so with the hope that the WICB will also reciprocate, and remove any existing barriers to successful negotiations.”
The decision to appoint Kissoon and Hall to lead WIPA’s negotiating team came against the backdrop of a letter from WICB Corporate Secretary Stephen Camacho in June.
Writing on behalf of the governing body, Camacho requested an apology from Ramnarine for his conduct during a meeting that same month with Chief Executive Officer Ernest Hilaire, or alternative representatives at meetings between the two organizations.
“I am the institutional memory of WIPA,” said Ramnarine. “Up to this point, I have been involved in every major negotiation, mediation, and arbitration between WIPA and the WICB.
“I however, cannot lead while simultaneously trying to recall important events or key documents that would help the entire team effort.”
He added: “I want to be free to focus on the flow of the negotiations, and while I will influence the process, I want it to proceed in a way that makes it clear that we want an outcome that will be in the best interests of West Indies cricket.”
Ramnarine said he was confident about the credentials of Kissoon and Hall.
“Mr. Kissoon is an extremely skilled and experienced attorney who has successfully and brilliantly represented WIPA, as well as many other high-profile clientele.
“A partner at the law firm Cozen O’Connor, Mr. Kissoon actively practices in London, throughout the United States, as well as in the Caribbean, and is extremely familiar with the issues. He is the consummate international legal professional.”
He said: “Mr. Hall is a former chief cricket operations officer of the WICB and Cricket World Cup [2007 in the Caribbean. His love for, and commitment to, West Indies cricket cannot be doubted or denied.”
Ramnarine concluded that WIPA planned to demonstrate in a transparent manner that what they ultimately wanted was whatever would help West Indies regain the pinnacle of the global game.
