The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

IN AN act of solidarity, union leaders are again threatening to take industrial action if ousted former BTC Manager Elizabeth Thompson is not reinstated by this weekend.

A withdrawal of labour by all union members could swiftly follow in the event that BTC refuses to engage the union in discussions said Jennifer Isaacs Dotson and Obie Ferguson who are the presidents of the National Congress of Trade Unions of the Bahamas (NCTUB) and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas Trade Union Congress (CBTUC) respectively. 

The warning, they said, comes on behalf of the Joint Labour Movement (JLM) that represents about 40 unions with an estimated 60,000 workers throughout the country. 

From all indications, it appears that officials at BTC are not prepared to reconsider the actions they have already taken. Mr Ferguson said discussion between the company and the union had reached a stalemate. When contacted, BTC said they had no comment at this time.

But according to the union, BTC has breached stipulations outlined in a current industrial agreement between the Corporation and the Bahamas Communications and Public Managers Union (BCPMU). They insist that the ongoing tensions between the union and BTC is no small matter but that if the Corporation is allowed this one injustice, other privately run companies can follow suit.

Both union leaders are now calling on Prime Minister Perry Christie and Labour Minister Shane Gibson to intervene.

Mrs Isaacs-Dotson said: “We are calling on the government of the Bahamas who have 49 per cent of the the shares in BTC to step in now and resolve this matter before it gets to a point where we all in this country, as workers,  have to withdraw our labour because this matter affects each and every worker in this country and their right to join a trade union and their right to become an executive in a trade union. 

Mr Ferguson at the same time suggested that labour unions and their members could actively engage in a protest outside BTC’s offices at JFK boulevard.

 “If it becomes necessary,” he said, “after consultation with the president of the NCTU, the labour movement, and those who are not unionised, we are asking them to join us at the BCPOU Hall and then on to BTC. It is just impossible for us to allow this to happen.

“If it becomes necessary, we will go there and spend some time there to bring recognition.”

The JLM’s echo to take industrial action was first heard in October just one week after Mrs Thompson was officially released from her duties at BTC.

Since then the union had said that Mrs Thompson who worked at BTC for five years was fired because she was elected as vice president of the BCPMU.

However, BTC CEO Geoff Houston denied those claims.