The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Public Service Union President Kimsley Ferguson has backed the Minnis administration’s decision to relocate the General Post Office to the Town Centre Mall, despite some outcry over the conflict of interest the move presents.

In an interview with reporters at his Wulff Road office yesterday, Mr Ferguson said that he would have supported a move to any location in the capital, inclusive of his home, if it gave workers a safe and healthy working environment.

Town Centre Mall is partly-owned by Minister of Immigration Brent Symonette. The Progressive Liberal Party has called the government’s decision to rent portions of the mall for five years to house the General Post Office as a “shameful, naked conflict of interest that no parliamentary or constitutional device or slight of hand will disguise.”

However, Mr Ferguson said that as long as a building is safe for workers, the union does not have a concern about where it is, or who owns it.

He added that now is a perfect time to relocate workers who have endured dismal conditions for far too long.

“The union is in support of any move, to some extent, to get the staff of the post office out of that building. The concern, back then and now, is that the environment is hazardous, not only to the respiratory concerns that may have emanated from the post office environment, but also there are concrete slabs that are falling from the roof; so hence, we are concerned,” Mr Ferguson told reporters.

“As long as the building is healthy and safe, the union doesn’t have a concern about where the location is, or, for that matter, who may be the owner of the building. In some way or another, any building that you may attempt to use for accommodations is going to belong to some Bahamian. And so, we are in support of the move to, firstly, get the persons out of the existing building into a more safe and healthy environment.”

The House of Assembly will debate a resolution to rent portions of Town Centre Mall this week.

Last week, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis defended leasing the mall, insisting the process will be transparent.

According to the resolution, the government intends to rent portions of the mall at $12 per sq ft.

Town Centre Mall, at 203,000 sq ft, was once listed for sale at a cost of $16m.

Mr Ferguson yesterday said his union has been in communication with Transport Minister Renward Wells, the minister with responsibility for the General Post Office, and both sides have tentatively agreed to the union touring the Town Centre Mall property on Thursday.

According to Mr Ferguson, the tour will allow the BPSU an opportunity to cross-check the facility with plans it was presented with - a plan first introduced by the former Christie administration. The former government had considered moving the post office to Town Centre Mall during its last term, but ultimately decided on another nearby location.

Mr Ferguson said the union has been assured that it can communicate any issues it may have with the renovations or any necessary specifications it may want to include, to the office of the minister, following that tour.

“On Thursday, we are hopeful that all the details that we need to be aware of, will be forthcoming,” he said.

Mr Ferguson said members of his union have made calls for several features, chief among them, a cafeteria.

He said once he and his team have toured the location and have spoken to the group responsible for the renovations, he would be in a better position to give insight on the positives or negatives of the Town Centre Mall site.

He said he would reserve further comment until then.

Mr Ferguson also said yesterday that in their communications in recent weeks, he and Mr Wells have discussed plans for a permanent location for the General Post Office.

Mr Ferguson said the BPSU remains “hopeful” that those discussions would be continued “sooner, rather than later.”

Additionally, Mr Ferguson also indicated that his team is still pursuing compensation for those post office employees who have had adverse health conditions as a result of their time in at the General Post Office.

Mr Ferguson said the issue is something that his team would have addressed in its quarterly meeting with Minister of the Public Service Brensil Rolle.

Mr Ferguson said BPSU officials have presented Mr Rolle with a “grocery list” of items that they would have expected an update on, and high on that list would have been a demand for proper compensation for the affected employees.

“We are hopeful that it would be treated as an industrial accident because it arose out of the course of those persons’ employment and the employer has the responsibility to ensure that the environment is safe and healthy,” he told reporters.