The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL kvirgil@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Hubert Ingraham's stern warning to airport customs and immigration officers seems to have fallen on deaf ears, as they continued to defy their shift system yesterday. After a weekend of chaos, the Lynden Pindling International airport again struggled to process passengers in a timely fashion, although senior officials from both departments once again covered for staff who refused to work outside the 9am - 5pm work day outlined in General Orders for public servants. However, Mr Ingraham's warning to the officers that they return to work or face the consequences, was yesterday portrayed as the result of a misunderstanding by labour attorney Obie Ferguson. The Prime Minister said: "Persons who do not return to work, forthwith, will be dealt with by the public service without regard to any other consideration. We are serious about this." Mr Ingraham issued the warning at an emergency press conference in Exuma on Saturday. He said: "Longer lines than we've ever seen before. Some people were in the queue for approximately two hours." "There were people who fainted and no nurse was on duty. Unfortunately there were significant press calls on the British Airways flight to cover Prince Harry's visit - they were very unhappy." Mr Ferguson, legal representative of the Bahamas Customs, Immigration and Allied Worker's Union, said union officials have already met with Mr Ingraham once in the past week, but are now seeking another meeting to clarify some discrepancies that "clearly exist - especially with regards to the work schedule." He said: "We hope that when we meet with him we can clear up the matters discussed in the previous meeting (February 25)." "In that meeting, we said that they would not be working under the shift system but instead under General Orders, which required the officers to report in to work at 9am and leave at 5pm and off on Saturdays and Sundays." Mr Ferguson claimed the chaos over the weekend was not the result of an attempt to attack the government or seek revenge for the unpopular shift system. "There was no strike, no sick out, no industrial action. We actually have a right to strike as we have gotten the strike vote, but it was none of those things," he said. If the union succeeds in again meeting with Mr Ingraham, a formal agreement on work hours is expected in writing, Mr Ferguson said.