The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

HARRISON Moultrie, a former Freeport Container Port worker who was seriously injured on the job in a 2010 tornado, has criticised the company over alleged “unfair treatment” to him and other workers.  

Mr Moultrie, 40, suffered injuries to his spine, neck and head and has not worked in the past five years. He receives a small disability cheque from National Insurance every month but not any disability or medical assistance from the container port after being injured.

On March 29, 2010, a tornado ripped through the Grand Bahama facility, toppling a gantry crane and killing four workers who were inside at the time. Several other workers were seriously injured and hospitalised.

Before the accident, Mr Moultrie had been employed at the container port for six years as a straddle driver, berth operator and top loader operator.

As a result of his injuries, he has to take seven types of medication to deal with chronic pain as well as post traumatic stress. He walks with a cane.

“I have a spine injury, and two discs (C4 and C5) in my neck were damaged. I also hit my head in the crane and suffered a concussion, and doctors say I have stroke spots in the brain. I have to take medication for the rest of my life, without a dime from the container port,” he said.

Mr Moultrie said he was a good worker. “I did many jobs there; I was always on time and never late for work, and I feel it is unfair for them to treat me this way; since this happened, they treat us like dogs,” he claimed.

He now struggles to support to his family. “The $260 I get from NIB, I have to pay $200 to the bank and the rest I give to my wife to help pay the bills – how am I supposed to feed my family?” he said.

Mr Moultrie supports Lionel Morley, the Trades Union acitivist, and those workers who are trying to establish a union at the container port. He believes that a union would ensure proper benefits and better salaries for the workers at the container port.

Another worker, who did wished to  be identified, said that it is wrong that the container port is treating them as casual workers.  

“We are going to work every day as temporary workers enduring long hours, and in sometimes dangerous conditions, with no insurance or benefits – it’s not fair,” the employee said. The worker also claims that workers are being intimidated about joining the union.

Mr Morley, who is assisting workers at the container port to become unionised, said they are still waiting on the Minister of Labour to grant them registration for the new Longshoreman Union.

“We applied to the Minister three or four weeks ago for registration and have not received word yet from him. We have been down this road before and we know this game too well, and we will not play this long waiting game while workers are being taken advantage of at the container port,” said Mr Morley.  

“The container port are known to be well protected by high-powered lawyers and some elements in government agencies, and they tend to drag the process and tie things up in the courts,” he claimed.

Mr Morley stressed that the workers need the support of the politicians and the community to help them in their fight for a union.

“They (the workers) have been denied their fundamental right to join a union for too long. They are exposed to hazardous conditions, chemicals, suffered injuries and there have been deaths. The families of those workers who were killed are still waiting to be compensated,” he said.

Mr Morley noted that the container port workers in the United States and Panama are paid well.

“The salaries of workers here are not enough to feed their family and every year the company makes hundreds of millions of dollars, and workers are not being properly compensated and have no pension fund,” he claimed.

“We need the minister, who was also a former trade union leader, to do the honourable thing and bring relief and hope for those workers,” he said.