The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A prominent trade union leader has predicted “a very distressing year” for the Bahamian labour movement, describing the Attorney General’s ‘nolle’ instruction to drop a case against top Sandals Royal Bahamian executives last year as a “cardinal sin”.

Obie Ferguson, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) president, refusing to let the matter go, told Tribune Business: “It was catastrophic, fatal, a cardinal sin for the Attorney General to have done what she did.

“The Sandals matter and several other matters are still outstanding as it relates to a general dispute. This year is going to be a trying year for the workers of this country. It is probably going to be one of the most difficult years for workers unless, of course, the Government takes a different position.”

Allyson Maynard-Gibson, the attorney general, has declined to give detailed reasons for her ‘nolle’ decision, but many in the legal profession have argued that she was entirely justified in her constitutional role to act as she did.

Wayne Munroe QC, who was acting for Sandals in the dispute, effectively suggested that the union was trying to re-litigate a matter that was already being dealt with at the Supreme Court, something that legal precedent prevents it doing.

There were also suggestions that the union was seeking to use the criminal prosecution of the Sandals executives as ‘leverage’ in its ongoing dispute with the resort.

The TUC and its Bahamas Hotel, Maintenance & Allied Workers Union (BHMAWU) affiliate last summer blasted Sandals Royal Bahamian for its abrupt closure, which resulted in some 600 employees being made redundant, arguing that it was a ‘union busting’ move.

The resort chain, though, repeatedly argued that the closure was essential for much-needed $4 million repairs to take place at the Cable Beach property. The resort re-opened in late October.

The Government also came under fire for its handling of the matter. Both the TUC and the National Congress of Trade Unions (NCTU) slammed the Christie administration for what they described as its “deception” towards workers, after the Attorney General had directed that the criminal case against Sandals Royal Bahamian and its top executives be discontinued.

The Attorney General also subsequently dropped the case against five union executives who had been accused of obstruction for protesting near the Sandals property on West Bay Street.

Mr Ferguson told Tribune Business: “It is difficult for the workers to get justice through the system, particularly where it involves the failure of an employer to negotiate an industrial agreement.

“You’re talking about three and four years. Then they go to the Government and make an application to the court saying that the industrial agreement has expired, and the terms and conditions that existed for the worker do not exist any more.

“They cannot deduct the union dues which the worker assigned because the employer failed to negotiate, and the Minister and the Attorney Genera prevent you from going to court to require the employer to negotiate. That is why I say that it is fatal. This is going to be a very distressing year, certainly based on this position by the Attorney General.”