The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

  The recent terminations of some 19 Bahamians at the Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC) came on the heels of a massive redundancy exercise at Chicago Bridge and Iron (CB&I) in BORCO/Buckeye in recent weeks. I was reliably informed that approximately 60 workers were given their pink slips.

CB&I is a large multinational conglomerate engineering, procurement and construction company that has played a pivotal role in the multimillion dollar expansion of BORCO/Buckeye in the past few years. The company had hired scores of Bahamians to work on the expansion project. Grand Bahamians should be thankful to BORCO/Buckeye for expanding its facilities at such a crucial juncture in the island's history. Because of the expansion, hundreds of good paying construction jobs were created. Had it not been for BORCO/Buckeye, Grand Bahama's jobless rate could have been much higher than the 17.3 per cent that is being touted by officials of the Department of Statistics. The unemployment rate could have been way up in the thirties. Needless to say, this bit of news concerning the lay-offs will not bode well for Grand Bahama. Where will these 60 jobless Bahamians find work? Where will the former GBPC employees find work? There is nothing on Grand Bahama for these people to do. Chances are they might have to move to the capital in order to find work. As it stands right now, the labour market in Grand Bahama simply cannot absorb such a huge number of jobless Bahamians. When you look at it, nothing has really changed since May 7. We have different actors for sure, but it is the same stage and the same drama. In fact, I think it has gotten worse on the island. Despite the repeated claims by some in high places that the recession has ended, reality says otherwise.

I would like to know why the terminations at CB&I was not reported by the press in Grand Bahama. True, those jobs were not permanent, but I think the terminations were still newsworthy and should have been covered by the press. It all goes to show that Grand Bahama is still reeling from the economic fallout with no end in sight.

Like thousands of Grand Bahamians, I have given up hope in the government of The Bahamas' ability to solve Grand Bahama's economic woes. We here on Grand Bahama have adjusted to living in an environment where jobs are scarce and where hardworking Bahamians are given their pink slips every other week. What other choice do we have? 

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama,

September 28, 2012.