The Tribune

By KYLE WALKINE

Tribune Staff Reporter

kwalkine@tribunemedia.net

UNION leaders have backed away from their threat of a “three day strike” over unresolved labour issues, National Congress of Trade Unions Bahamas (NCTUB) President John Pinder told The Tribune.

Mr Pinder told The Tribune that the strike is “unlikely to happen” because after several meetings, the government appears to be negotiating in the favour of the unions’ of most, if not all, of the pending issues.

“I can say that based on the meetings we’ve been having, the government is doing everything it can to address those very important issues that have been outstanding, issues that both the NCTUB and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) are faced with,” the union leader said.

“There are a lot of promises that have been made and they have hired a mediator in the person of Bishop Neil Ellis. He is there to ensure the matter is addressed in a timely fashion. So we will wait.”

The union leader said that Prime Minister Perry Christie has recognised that mass industrial action could be a repeat of the 1958 general strike.

“I believe he knows that wouldn’t be a good thing right now,” Mr Pinder said referring to the prime minister.

Both Mr Pinder and TUC President Obie Ferguson promised that thousands of workers in their unions would create a mass shutdown of government services if their issues weren’t addressed.

The two unions even held a rally to galvanise support from their members and prepare them for the potential strike.

Earlier this month, Mr Ferguson lamented the government’s failure to meet with unions to hash out a laundry list of matters that mainly affect public service employees.

When asked if he could confirm when the work stoppages would occur, Mr Ferguson remained tight-lipped on a time frame. However, he insisted that the unions had no choice but to withhold labour in protest of two years of “impotence” from the government on pressing concerns.

“All of the unions are on high alert,” Mr Ferguson said, “they were all here tonight so what we are now going to do is compile a listing of all of the issues because you don’t want to be repetitious. We are going to consolidate our resources and make it very productive. Then I think you would see us moving forward.

“The government has refused to meet to discuss the issues that we are talking about because as you can see there is a litany of issues that ought to be dealt with in the Employment Act.

“But they have done nothing. We filed the action from 2012 and they did nothing about it. So we have no choice everything.”

This week, Pinder said his union’s main concern relates to recommendations to amend the Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act.

“In relation to the Employment Act, we believe it needs to be a bit stiffer, in terms of the employer being able to terminate an employee without cause,” he said. “We believe that if they want to do that, then they should pay for it.”