The Tribune

THURSDAY was the first time since airport construction started that we visited the Lynden Pindling International Airport -- a magnificent structure in progress and one of which all Bahamians should be immensely proud. We arrived by Jet Blue from Fort Lauderdale shortly after 5pm only to learn that Immigration and Customs officers, working to general orders, had just walked off the job. Senior staff were filling in. As Jet Blue was the only aircraft on the ground at the time, passengers and baggage seemed to be moving smoothly. Mixing among baggage handlers we were told that the union had informed its membership that the prime minister had said that their industrial agreement was no longer valid and so the union had decided to revert to General Orders, which stipulates that working hours are from 9am to 5pm. It was then 5pm and they were headed home. We were also told that they were working on a shift system, which obviously would reduce their overtime pay -- a savings to their employers, the Bahamian taxpayer. They did not like this because, they claimed, it was the airline paying for their overtime, not the government. If this is true, no wonder airlines are complaining about the Bahamas being an expensive port of call. It was because of these loud complaints - ridiculous costs that were pricing the Bahamas out of the tourism business - that the shift system was ordered by the PLP government in 2006. The PLP introduced two shifts - 8am to 4pm and 4pm to midnight. A flat fee was set for any time worked by either shift over the specified time. The union has argued that this remuneration was contrary to the Employment Act and that any overtime should be paid on the basis of time and a half with double time for holidays. This was the union's biggest issue. We have since learned that what we were being told -- and obviously what workers had been told - was not true. Mr Ingraham had met with the Bahamas Customs and Immigration Allied Workers Union on February 25 and had already agreed to these demands. As far as government was concerned, there was no longer a union issue. No wonder Labour Minister Dion Foulkes expressed bafflement on learning of the unrest. The more these workers talked, the more we realised that innocent, hardworking people, were being duped by irresponsible leaders for political reasons. These tactics are the fastest way for union leaders to lose credibility, and eventually destroy their union, and the jobs of their members. It was also obvious that the unrest was politically motivated because no prime minister could revoke an industrial agreement -- as workers had been told he had done. This was an agreement that protected workers' rights. If this were so, union lawyer Obie Ferguson would have certainly rushed the matter to court to protect this sacred contract. But obviously union leaders and their political handlers, thought it best to embarrass the nation by reverting to General Orders, knowing that chaos would be created at the airport. And, of course, this was a special weekend -- a Prince of the Realm was in town and it was important that the Bahamas put its best national foot forward. We have since discovered that at no time did the Prime Minister make any threat against the union's 2005 industrial agreement. If what we had been told at the airport was correct, union leaders had misinformed their members. Obviously they had not been told that the Prime Minister had not only agreed their overtime, but had approved their hazard allowance, the on-call allowance, and the shift premium. The shop steward and the union leader has also admitted that all union matters for workers at Arawak Cay have been satisfactorily addressed -- their health and safety issues have been resolved. We have since learned that Customs was never a problem at the airport, and that on Sunday 12 immigration officers reported for work. At a press conference in Exuma, Mr Ingraham said that the "activities of the immigration officers and the union, in particular, appear to be motivated by something other than legitimate grievances". He was satisfied that it "is politically motivated". He made it clear that unions are "no different from anybody else". "When election is coming up, lots of people think now is the time to make my demands," "But the reality is, when we are doing business like this, it doesn't matter whether it's election time or not election time, I should do what is simply best for the Bahamas while I'm in this office... and so I can't be pressured by any such people." He made it clear that persons "who do not return to work, forthwith, will be dealt with by the public service without regard to any other consideration." Immigration officers were sufficiently wise to take him seriously. We understand they returned to their posts yesterday. There are many hardworking, decent men and women in this union who are being led astray by their leaders. It is now time that union members start selecting better leadership. What they also have to understand is that -- unlike many of their fellow men and women -- they are lucky to have a secure job. They would be foolish to let politics and politicians ruin it for them.