The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

LEADERS of the country’s major unions are planning a mass rally to inform the public of all their issues as well as send a message to the government that “they will not be silenced.”

Trade Union Congress President Obie Ferguson said over the past few years, the government has grown increasingly disrespectful and dismissive of the unions, completely neglecting their concerns and issues. He said the unions of this country will not stand for it any more and despite not confirming a date or venue, Mr Ferguson said he hopes all working Bahamians will join them in their march.

“I am asking the workers of this country to join us. We are organising a workers’ rally. I don’t care if you are in a union or not, there are some things we have to say and we are going to say it public and we are going to demonstrate to the public that this country is pretty much gone,” he said.

“This country has taken a turn for the worst that is not in the best interest of workers of this country. We do not know our history. That is our problem and we don’t teach it properly. One man, one vote came as a result of the 1958 strike, the right to sue the employer for negligence came as a result of the 1958 strike, the change in  the electoral process came as a result of the labour movement and today look where we are. This is not where I want to be and the government just saying anything they want to say about trade unions, what are they trying to prove? Black Tuesday may be necessary again. I say this, we have to have a change in our approach because we will not sit around and let people come in and dictate to us and what we should do and what we shouldn’t do. We will organise a massive rally to deal specifically with employment issues, VAT, immigration issues and all issues that affect workers of this country. We want you all to come, we cannot allow this country to go the way it is going.”

Mr Ferguson is also demanding an investigation be conducted by Prime Minister Perry Christie to determine who gave police officers permission to remove Customs and Immigration workers off their jobs earlier this week.

“These officers,” he said, “are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Public Service Commission. They are not appointed by a Minister in the government nor by the Prime Minster of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. We are a country of laws and we are mandated to follow the law. Police officers cannot take dictation from a Minister of the government to interfere with a public officer in the form of Customs and/or Immigration. I want to make that clear, Immigration and public officers are government by article 108 of the constitution.

“This is a serious matter and we call on the Prime Minister to do an investigation to determine if the allegations are true because if that is so we have a problem in this country. Since when do police officers carry instructions from a Minister with respect to the Customs and Immigration officers? So we ask the Prime Minister to please investigate and let us know if that occurred and if so what corrective measures they are implementing to help solve the issue.”