The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE immigration union’s dispute over the Davis administration’s appointment of William Pratt as director of the Department of Immigration will likely be addressed by the Industrial Tribunal after two Department of Labour conciliation meetings failed to resolve the matter, according to new Labour Director Howard Thompson.

Mr Thompson said the parties met in November but did not come to an agreement. His department is now awaiting communication from either side to transfer the matter to the Tribunal, which Mr Thompson said may prioritise the complaint “because of the nature of the dispute”.

When the Bahamas Customs Immigration and Allied Workers Union filed a trade dispute earlier this year, BCIAWU president Deron Brooks said the union would challenge the administration in court if its decision is not reversed.

He said the union secured a Supreme Court victory in 2021 after arguing that immigration officers cannot be contract workers.

A former director of the department, Mr Pratt, 66, is past retirement age. He was brought back to lead the institution after Keturah Ferguson, 62, retired early under controversial circumstances.

According to court documents, the BCIAWU challenged the Minnis administration in 2021 for appointing Clarence Russell as acting director of immigration.

The union sought a declaration from the Supreme Court that the power to make appointments to public offices belongs to the Governor-General on the advice of the Public Service Commission.

Under the Davis administration, the Office of the Attorney General did not fight the union’s position, leading then-Supreme Court Justice Indra Charles to settle the matter in the union’s favour. The government had to pay the union $10,000 in costs.

Mr Brooks said this experience should’ve prevented the Davis administration from appointing a contract worker head of the immigration department, a not uncommon practice since the 1990s.

“They have replaced a gazetted, fully pensionable officer with a contractually appointed person,” he said in October, adding that qualified people are missing out on upward mobility.