The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR Day unfolded with two competing marches in New Providence on Friday, with union leaders divided over the holiday’s direction and political party colours again fuelling complaints that the workers’ celebration has been overtaken by partisan display.

The traditional parade assembled at Windsor Park and moved through East Street into downtown Nassau, drawing union members, music, public supporters and visible contingents of Progressive Liberal Party supporters in yellow and Free National Movement supporters in red.

At the same time, the Trades Union Congress and several affiliated unions held a separate march from the House of Labour on Wulff Road, travelling west before turning north along Baillou Hill Road and ending at the Southern Recreation Grounds.

The TUC said its separate route was intended to honour labour pioneer Sir Randol Fawkes and preserve the historical meaning of Labour Day. It was the second consecutive year the TUC opted out of the traditional march route.

TUC president Obie Ferguson, KC, has said the growing presence of political parties has distracted from the event’s original purpose. He encouraged participants in the TUC march to wear black trousers and white Labour Day shirts rather than political colours.

Outgoing Bahamas Public Services Union president Kimsley Ferguson, who said this was his final Labour Day parade as union leader, also criticised the political display.

“Labour Day is supposed to be for the workers of the country and not a show of political might or strength,” he said.

“There's no problem with political parties coming on to the parade, but come and support the workers, wear neutral colors, don't bring party colors to a parade that's supposed to be celebrating the workers of the country.”

Mr Ferguson said his nine-year tenure as BPSU president will end in September when the union holds elections. He said he is leaving union leadership to pursue Christian ministry full-time.

“It's a new chapter that I'm going to embrace, because God has now called me to go into ministry full time,” he said. “I’m currently a pastor at a church, and so this is my last and final Labour Day parade as the President of Bahamas Public Service Union."

On the broader labour divide, he said: “I would say that the word union suggests one. If there's a day and a time that we ought to unite, it would be today."

Labour Minister Pia Glover-Rolle rejected claims that the parade had been politicised, saying unions remained at the front of the procession while political parties stayed to the rear.

"The parade, in my opinion, has not been politicised, because if you look at the way the route is composed, you'll see the unions out front, and then I see the political parties in the rear, they're not mixing in, they're only at the back supporting, and that's what it's about, political parties are supporting the workers, and the supporters of political parties are workers themselves, so I don't think it's politicised in any way," she said.

"There's a clear separation of the political parties and the trade unions. Every year it's intentional that the political bodies stay closer to the rear and unions make their way through the parade, but it is a show of support. I don't see anything wrong with political parties supporting the workers of our country.

Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union president Darron Woods said his union was not distracted by the political debate surrounding the parade.

"That has become a tradition now, so it really doesn't faze us anymore," he said.

Opposition Leader Michael Pintard defended the FNM’s decision to wear party colours this year, saying the party had previously avoided doing so.

"On multiple Labour Days, we have not worn party colors. We again complied with what was requested by Randol Fawkes family. This year, it's clear to us that the PLP has violated that agreement," he said on Friday.

"It has been of no effect, and so we want to stand to let the public know we are still here. We didn't want to just melt in the crowd to let them know we're still here and still standing."

The traditional parade briefly stopped at Zion Baptist Church, near the site of the 2018 Labour Day accident, to remember Dianne Gray-Ferguson, Tami Williams-Gibson, Kathleen Rodgers-Fernander and Tabitha Bethel-Haye. The four women died after a truck participating in the Labour Day parade struck them.

Wreaths were laid and prayers offered before the procession resumed its journey downtown.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, speaking at the memorial stop, said Labour Day represents workers’ dignity, sacrifice and solidarity.

"We must remember that they were participating in what I call a seminal event, where workers come together to mark their solidarity for the dignity of work and to ensure that the rights of workers are continually upheld," he said.

"Labour Day is a recognition of that. Those struggles that workers have had, workers in this country struggled for centuries until the riot of 1948 to the strike of 56 which gave birth to the marking of this day as a Labour Day."

"Without workers, you have no economy, and let's continue to respect them, uphold their dignity, and ensure their rights are always protected."