The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

TRADE Union Congress President Obie Ferguson hinted yesterday that extensive labour action could occur across the country in the coming weeks, as he spearheaded the platform merger of several of the nation’s unions in their respective grievances against the Christie administration.

During a lengthy press conference held at the House of Labour building on Wulff Road, Mr Ferguson, flanked by We March Bahamas organisers Ranard Henfield and John Bostwick II, declared that the “time for talk” had officially expired for the governing PLP as union leaders have now progressed toward “necessary, effective action”.

Mr Ferguson, who is also an attorney, urged the “working people” of the country to rally behind the actions to be proposed by the group moving forward, insisting that no great feat ever achieved in the Bahamas occurred without the efforts of that section of the country’s population.

Vowing that his words were not being made in jest, Mr Ferguson said action could come within hours of his declaration on Monday morning.

“Rest assured, as we leave this room, the working people (have had enough),” he said. “I repeat that, as you leave this room, leave this room with the understanding that the working people have had enough and enough is enough.

“We are not going to procrastinate and go on any longer. The working people want to see us do what we are required to do, to protect the interest of this Bahamian community and the working people of the county,” Mr Ferguson said.

“What I am prepared to say to you today (is), this is the end of the road. There is no longer speculation. I am certain this is the end of the road today.

“So at any minute, from this point on there will be some action,” added the unionist. “Let me say this to you, whatever we do, it is going to be coordinated.”

He added: “But I can assure you as I speak, there will be action taken by this group. That is the decision we have made, it wouldn’t be a good trade union tactic to say (our plans); but I can assure you, we will (keep the public informed) and you will know the specific action.”

Labour issues

This came after officials from the Bahamas Air Traffic Controllers Union (BATCU), Bahamas Nurses Union (BNU), Bahamas Hotel Maintenance and Allied Workers Union (BHMAWU), and Bahamas Customs, Immigration and Allied Workers Union (BCIAWU) all presented the press with accounts of the government’s lack of regard toward labour issues.

BNU President Amancha Williams said the post of principal nursing officer has not been filled for at least 10 years.

Mrs Williams said her union has been barred from holding needed promotional exercises, and as a result, been unable to fill key roles within the Department of Public Health.

In addition to that, she claimed the quality of healthcare administered by her members was being limited by the inaction of the government of many other issues.

“We have been pressing on the government to adhere to our needs and it has been past time - we have been asking and still no results,” she said.

Similar sentiments were expressed by BATCU President Hinsey McKenzie, who in a passionate plea urged Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna Martin to stay true to her word and resolve the long-standing issues facing that union.

Mr McKenzie said his union was still awaiting a risk assessment report promised to them from May 2016 - the report was commissioned after the group organised labour action in December of 2015.

In addition to that report, Mr McKenzie said continued efforts by the government to bypass agreed upon overtime payouts more than a decade old, respond to issues highlighted by the union on the treatment of employees by security personnel at the airport and attempts to present management bodies at the airport as the principal authority body at the airport facility; have all been endured by his union for far too long.

“It is ridiculous,” Mr McKenzie said. “The government is treating us like we don’t deserve nothing, we have to beg.”

Racquel Strachan, president of the BHMAWU, said her union was still reeling from the government’s action in the Sandals Royal Bahamian dispute last year which saw the dismissal of roughly 600 employees at the resort.

“The prime minister and his colleagues said they would fix the matter and we would be back on the job. It is now 2017, nothing has yet happened,” she said.

The resort did rehire roughly 600 workers after a brief closure and renovation last year.

Ms Strachan implored workers across the Bahamas to come together and vote in their best interest, contending that the PLP was laying siege to the country’s working class.

“We can see the prime minister shuffle and dance all he wants, the time for action is now,” Ms Strachan said. “Enough talk. It is action time. We have had enough, enough is enough. It hasn’t happened to you, but it can happen to you later down.”

BCIAWU President Sloan Smith added that the Christie administration has also been silent on the promises it made to his union prior to and since coming to office, noting that his members were now in need of the “bird in the hand,” as the “two in the bush ain’t cutting it.”

He said his union has submitted all of its complaints to the government, in some cases going as far as to draft resolution documents in several of the incidents with the hope of them being adopted and adapted.

Mr Smith said he was of the view that the government was still looking to punish his union for its strike action in 2013.

Throughout the Christie administration’s current term in office, union issues have been persistent, despite the PLP’s pre-election pledge to address labour concerns.

Mr Henfield, We March Bahamas leader organiser, yesterday said looming union concerns could have political repercussions for the government, stating that Bahamians are “tired of begging.”

“We refuse to beg anymore,” the activist said. “The people around us are prepared to take action and we will take action until the things that they have been asking for are taken care of. We are tired of begging. It is our country and we are tired of being second-class citizens in this country.”

We March yesterday released a new shortlist of demands it wants the government to address in the coming months.

This list features calls for the enactment of Freedom of Information legislation, certification by the Supreme Court that the Cabbage Beach easement becomes a public right of way, an exact accounting of value added tax revenue, closure of Blackbeard’s Cay, and the unsealing of all document related to the sale of Baha Mar.

The group didn’t indicate what could happen if these demands were not met, stating only that it was standing in support of the unions.