The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FRUSTRATED unionists may campaign against the Progressive Liberal Party ahead of the next general election, Trade Union Congress President Obie Ferguson suggested yesterday.

“We will not support anyone who does not support us,” he said during a press conference ahead of Friday’s Labour Day holiday.

However, he acknowledged that even amidst displeasure with the government, he sees no attractive alternative to the governing party.

“I don’t see one political party in the country that could be counted on,” he said as he delivered a scathing assessment of the state of labour relations two days ahead of the holiday that celebrates the labour movement.

Part of Mr Ferguson’s anger stemmed from Labour Minister Shane Gibson’s statement several weeks ago that the Bahamas Customs Immigration and Allied Workers Union (BCIAWU) is one of just two unions that have not signed an industrial agreement with the government since the Christie administration came to power.

Mr Gibson said this to suggest that the government’s relationship with most unions, outside BCIAWU, is strong.

However, Mr Ferguson said seven unions have incomplete industrial agreements and he criticised the government for not standing up to hotels like Sandals and the Melià for taking actions he believes infringes on the rights of unionists in the country.

Some unions, he said, have been waiting for over five years for an acceptable industrial agreement to come before them.

“The workers of the Bahamas are suffering,” he said.

When contacted by The Tribune yesterday, Labour Minister Shane Gibson said his reference to two unions with outstanding industrial agreements referred to groups under organisations controlled by the government, not private companies like Sandals and the Melià resort.

He declined to comment on outstanding industrial agreements between unions and private companies.

As has become his tendency, Mr Ferguson also teased that industrial action could take place to boost the labour movement in the country.

“One bright early morning something will happen,” he said. “Maybe we need a three-day shut down to bring sense to people’s head.”

Mr Ferguson also said his union has filed an originating summons in court seeking relief with respect to the conduct of top police officials during last year’s Labour Day Parade.

The action is meant as a warning to the police ahead of Friday’s parade.

Among other things, the TUC is seeking a declaration from the court that the police should pay the organisation’s expenses that were incurred by the union in preparation for last year’s event which was allegedly disrupted by Assistant Commissioner of Police Leon Bethel.

The TUC is also seeking a declaration that says ACP Bethel acted outside the law when he allegedly ordered participants in last year’s parade to take certain actions in an effort to speed up the parade.

Mr Ferguson said the Police Act of 2009 does not give officers such powers.