The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A trade union leader says the movement is “planning something major” in response to the Sandals Royal Bahamian terminations, arguing that the “overwhelming” public response had effectively left them with “no choice” but to act.

Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, said its affiliate, the Bahamas Hotel, Maintenance & Allied Workers Union (BHMAWU),along with the National Congress of Trade Union (NCTU), is expected to meet with Prime Minister Perry Christie today on the matter.

Mr Ferguson hinted, though, that regardless of the meeting’s outcome, the unions “will do something”, although he did not go into specifics.

“We are planning something very major. We just want to meet with the Prime Minister on Monday. We’re still going to do something,” Mr Ferguson told Tribune Business.

“The response from the Bahamian public is just overwhelming in this matter. We don’t have a choice, to be honest. The public is really against what happened at Sandals. We have to account to the public because the public has given us 100 per cent support, and they have called in consistently.”

Tribune Business understands that the unions are also scheduled to meet with the Free National Movement (FNM) on Tuesday to discuss the Sandals redundancies and other matters affecting the trade union movement.

Union executives, along with members of the religious community, met with Mr Christie two weeks ago regarding grievances over the termination of Sandals Royal Bahamian’s 600 staff.  

And the TUC and the NCTU had previously warned they were prepared to “shut the country down” with a repeat of the 1958 General Strike unless the Prime Minister met with them within 48 hours to resolve the Sandals situation.

The TUC and its BHMAWU affiliate previously blasted Sandals Royal Bahamian for its abrupt closure last month, arguing that it was a ‘union busting’ move.The resort chain, though, has repeatedly countered that the closure, which resulted in 600 employees being made redundant, was essential for much-needed $4 million repairs to take place at the Cable Beach property.

The BHMAWU has been seeking to negotiate an industrial agreement for workers at Sandals Royal Bahamian since 2009, and has grown increasingly frustrated at its failure to do so, despite having been recognised as the bargaining agent.

Sandals Royal Bahamian and its attorneys, Lennox Paton, have been challenging the “very basis” for the union’s existence on technical grounds. The resort previously filed a Judicial Review seeking a court order that would force the Registrar of Trade Union’s to cancel the union’s registration.