The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

and NATARIO MCKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Hotel union executives yesterday served notice they plan to challenge a Supreme Court injunction that has - temporarily at least - blocked leadership elections set for this month.

The injunction, granted on May 4, 2018, by acting chief justice Stephen Isaacs, barred the nomination of candidates for various union executive posts that was scheduled to take place yesterday.

"An injunction is granted against [the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union] to arrest the nomination process scheduled for Tuesday, May 8, for the nomination of officers and members to the [union] until this matter is disposed of or until further Order," a copy of the injunction, seen by Tribune Business, states.

The injunction was obtained by veteran trade unionist Dave Beckford, who has been a frequent leadership candidate, and his 'Team Destiny' slate of nominees. "We are aware that there are many rumours and allegations about why the hotel union's nomination day and election have been postponed," Team Destiny said in a subsequent statement signed by Mr Beckford.

"It is because the matter is still before the courts. We choose not to make any further comments at this time until the matter is decided." Mr Beckford declined to comment further when contacted by Tribune Business.

This newspaper understands that "the matter" Team Destiny's statement refers to is Mr Beckford's legal challenge to his expulsion from the hotel union in 2015. A prominent critic of the union's present leadership, Tribune Business understands Mr Beckford's expulsion is related to another case where he challenged the Minister of Labour and Registrar of Trade Unions over whether the hotel union is validly registered.

Darren Woods, the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union's (BHCAWU) secretary-general, yesterday told Tribune Business that the union planned to seek the injunction's removal at a court hearing later this week.

He said Mr Beckford and Team Destiny obtained the injunction at a hearing where neither the union nor its attorneys were present, and branded the situation as "not a big concern".

"There isn't much I can say on that," he told this newspaper. "They got an ex-parte injunction. I wasn't there and our attorneys weren't there at the time, but we should know what will happen with that this Friday.

"We will all hear it together. It's not a big concern. At the end of the day the court will make its decision and we will move on. It's not as if we don't want to have elections. All members of the union are able to nominate.

"My team, Team Phoenix, has asked me to assume the leadership. I am vying for the presidency this year. Whenever the nominations are held we will nominate and move from there."

Following yesterday's now-suspended nominations, union elections were supposed to be held on May 23, 2018. Mr Woods, in a message to union members, said "new dates will be provided at a later date".

He confirmed that the nomination of union officers and executive council members had "been suspended as per acting chief justice Isaacs' Order dated May 4".

Tribune Business was told that current union president, Nicole Martin, who has held the post for nine years is not offering for the leadership post this year. Her reign has come under fire from Mr Beckford, especially over the failure to negotiate a new industrial agreement when the last one expired in early 2013.

Union executives failed to submit a proposal for a new industrial agreement with hotel employers by the required October 2012 deadline, as the contract between the two parties mandated that the employee representative make an offer 90 days before the existing agreement expired.

Mr Beckford has argued that this failure has left the union's members without the protection of a binding industrial agreement, and the ability to file trade disputes/take action against employers that violated it.

He also said that hotel industry workers were unable to obtain improved salary and benefit terms at a time when the cost of living continues to increase, especially after the introduction of Value-Added Tax (VAT) in early 2015.

Both the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association and the union have previously confirmed they are behaving as if the terms of the industrial agreement that expired in January 2013 are still in effect.