ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) – A high-powered, four-member team have been selected to represent the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in negotiations with the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) over a new Memorandum of Understanding and Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The team will comprise attorneys-at-law Derek Ali and Walter Scott, as well as management consultant Gerard Pinard, and industrial relations specialist Robert ‘Bobby’ Morris.

They will work with the WICB’s legal affairs officer Alanna Medford to establish new arrangements that will include the contracting of a larger number of players to the WICB, with the aim of making the sport at the domestic level more professional.

“The WICB welcomes the team and expresses confidence in its ability to deliver its mandate over the ensuing five-month period,” stated a news release from the WICB.

“The committee had an initial meeting on May 7, at which they were briefed on the WICB’s position and conducted extensive discussions on the best way forward for West Indies cricket.”

Ali is noted for his specialist practice before the Industrial Court of Trinidad & Tobago, where he has appeared in numerous trade disputes, as well as before multiple statutory boards.

He has appeared and continues to practise before the Supreme Courts of Guyana and Grenada, the Court of Appeal of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, and the Privy Council.

Pinard has an extensive background in human resources and industrial relations and is a current member and past chairman of the board of directors of the Employers’ Consultative Association of Trinidad & Tobago Limited.

He is also a nominated member of the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board and Chairman of the T&TCB’s Human Resource/Industrial Relations/Conciliation Committee.

He has served on several Cabinet-appointed committees in T&T, and on several boards of directors in the two-island state, as well as Jamaica.

Scott is a partner in the Jamaican firm, Rattray, Patterson & Rattray, and his expertise includes betting and gaming as he has chaired the Betting, Gaming and Licences Corporation in Jamaica for many years.  He specialises in civil, criminal, and commercial litigation.

Robert Morris is the director of industrial relations of the Barbados Workers Union and lead negotiator and servicer in several areas such as: sugar, hotels, telecommunications, manufacturing, retail, construction, docks, and transport.

He is also a former Member of Parliament in Barbados under a previous administration of the Democratic Labour Party.

The WICB noted that the previous MOU and CBA between the WICB and WIPA was for a term of three years, and came to an end in September last year, though it remains in effect until new agreements are signed.

“The WICB has signalled to WIPA since November last year its desire to negotiate a more comprehensive agreement and the parties agreed to engage in discussions over a time period of five months, with a view to implementing a new framework that would take effect retroactively from October 1, 2008,” the news release added.

The WICB hopes to address players’ health, welfare, and fitness in the new agreements, as well as anti-doping and anti-corruption code.