NINETEEN labour unions have joined forces to protest against Government's plan to move the San Fernando Industrial Court.

"We resolved to struggle against any move to remove the court from here in San Fernando... the industrial capital of Trinidad and Tobago," Oilfields Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget said on Wednesday.

Roget said the issue was raised with members of the labour union movement on Monday.

On Wednesday, during a protest over the issue outside the south Industrial Court at Court Street, San Fernando, Roget called the move backward and oppressive and an attack on the labour movement.

"The institution to support and give proper representation to workers, those institutions are being dismantled. We have a serious problem with that," he said.

The OWTU said at the opening of the new law term, Chief Justice Ivor Archie indicated an intention to locate the Supreme Court at the current location of the San Fernando Industrial Court.

Roget said the court was established on the basis of the struggle of the OWTU and other trade unions, "in particular in the south". He said it was disrespectful that such a decision was made without consultation with the trade union movement, and called on top officials to meet with the labour movement.

"We call on the Chief Justice, we call on the president of the court, we call on the Attorney General, we call in the powers that be to review that decision and to talk with the stakeholders in this regard," Roget said.

"It cannot be that you are saying on one hand that labour will be placed at the centre and that we are partners in the business of governance to ensure that we improve the quality of lives of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, and then on the other hand you go behind our backs and you take such an important decision like this one," he said.

Roget said the claim that the court was not being utilised was being used to justify the move.