The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Public Services Union President John Pinder threatened yesterday to “shut down every post office” in New Providence if the government does not immediately relocate employees from the “unsanitary” General Post Office on East Hill Street.

Mr Pinder spoke with The Tribune moments after the main post office was closed due to flooding and other hazardous conditions.

The union president said his members have had enough of peaceful protests and appealing to the government for help, so now they will do whatever is necessary to get the government’s attention.

“The government promised to get these people out of this building months ago and we told the government they had six months to fix the problem,” Mr Pinder said. “Well that expires the end of October, so on November 1 if nothing is resolved we will shut every post office down. Apparently that is the only way to get things done.

“The air traffic controllers did something for an hour or two and the minister ran to talk to them, so let’s see what will happen when no one gets any mail in New Providence or the Family Islands,” he added.

“The post office is like the fifth largest revenue generator for the country but these people are not important enough to work in an office that isn’t falling apart? The garbage is piled up eight feet high, there are leaky pipes, a portion of the roof collapsed and no one seems to care. The emergency exit is blocked up with garbage, the rats are still running around, this is no environment for people to be working in.”

The post office was closed on Wednesday after a pipe burst flooding the entire first floor. Mr Pinder said a “significant amount of mail” was either damaged or destroyed.

“From Monday there was a slow leak coming from the ceiling in the area of the registered mail and now the pipe has burst flooding the post office,” he said.

“As a result there is a lot of mail damage, the water is three inches high in some areas. The staff went home and a cleaning company is trying to deal with the mess, but when I left the water was still flowing so, I don’t know if cleaning will help if the water is still leaking. A big slab of the ceiling dropped this morning, its 18 inches long and about four inches thick, imagine if that dropped on someone’s head? This whole place needs to be shut down.”

In May, Labour Minister Shane Gibson told Tribune Business that the government was in the process of acquiring the Independence Drive Shopping Centre as the new location for the General Post Office.

However, Mr Pinder said yesterday no work has begun on the site.

According to a statement released by the government on Wednesday, services at the General Post Office are expected to resume as normal today.