BAHAMAS Electrical Workers Union president Paul Maynard. (File photo)
By KHRISNA RUSSELL
Deputy Chief Reporter
krussell@tribunemedia.net
Bahamas Electrical Workers Union president Paul Maynard wants BTC’s Chief Executive Officer Garry Sinclair to do one thing: to go back to Jamaica.
He also urged the government of The Bahamas to bar both Mr Sinclair and Liberty Latin America’s CEO Balan Nair from entering the country.
Mr Maynard, who is also first vice president of the National Congress of Trade Unions Bahamas (NCTUB), threw his support behind the union representing BTC staff as controversy is seemingly plaguing the telecommunication provider’s executive team, the latest a warning from Mr Sinclair to the union that their tactics “could be fatal” to business.
Mr Sinclair also bluntly told the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union and Bahamas Communications and Public Managers Union to “stop finding a dark cloud behind every silver lining” otherwise the former government monopoly will face “an existential crisis” as it tries to “win again” in a fiercely competitive communications market.
The comments were not welcomed by Mr Maynard who yesterday unleashed a tirade against Liberty, BTC’s parent company and accused the Minnis administration of “going soft” on foreigners. He used Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ response to Mr Nair’s comments last week and this most recent situation as an example.
He said the government needed to make its voice heard as it had significant stake in BTC.
“See Minnis them joking,” Mr Maynard told The Tribune yesterday. “They need to put Sinclair and Nair on the stop list.
“Let me tell you something: no one can talk about our prime minister or the Bahamian people bad, that’s our job we do that among ourselves. That ain’t for no one to get involved in.
“And he ain’t going to give the unions them no damn orders. They talking about negotiating? How the hell you negotiating and he telling them get with it or else?”
He added: “I invite, as the first vice president of the NCTUB, Liberty Global to put their shares in the market since we are such a problem for them. Put the shares on the market.
“I am also asking the PM to put both of them on stop list. Don’t let these damn [expletive] come into the Bahamas and talk down to Bahamians. [Are] they crazy?”
Asked if he was concerned that his comments would be seen as xenophobic, Mr Maynard said: “I don’t care what the hell they say. This a Bahamian thing.
“The point is no foreigner gonna come in here and make demands of Bahamians. He come in our country, we ain’t in Jamaica.”
The union boss insisted that in recent weeks it has been evident that Bahamians aren’t respected in their own country.
“They just said, they say they apologised to Bahamians, but obviously you didn’t [because] you still come here this morning with this [expletive]?
“Who the hell he think he is? He need to carry his ass back to Jamaica, that’s what he need to do.
“He (is) living in this country.
“. . .The union and the Bahamian people ain’t got to do a goddamned thing but stay black and die,” Mr Maynard said. “The union ain’t got to do nothing because the service is [poor] anyway and they messed it up. Liberty has it that way.”
In an impassioned call for unity within BTC, Mr Sinclair told Tribune Business both the line staff and management union must “resist the temptation to fall back into ancient habits and practises from the monopoly days” if the carrier is to adjust its business model and properly compete with the likes of Cable Bahamas and Aliv.
Revealing that BTC had just agreed terms on a new industrial agreement with its management union, following closely behind a similar deal agreed with the BCPOU for the line staff, Mr Sinclair said he was at a loss when it came to identifying their continued grievances and instinct to “fight at every step”.
Voicing disquiet at the two unions’ seeming tendency to “sow dissent and extend controversy at the first sign of adversity”, Mr Sinclair argued that the “vast majority” of BTC workers and consumers now wanted to “move on” following last week’s controversy.
While acknowledging the hurt and upset caused by Mr Nair’s recent remarks about Bahamian worker productivity and attitudes, Mr Sinclair said the necessary apologies had been made quickly. And he used the comments by the head of BTC’s ultimate parent to lay down a challenge to his staff and the two trade unions.
He argued that the fall-out “should stiffen resolve” among BTC workers to achieve the vision he has set out for the carrier, namely to “prove” that it is the best communications operator in the region and then the world.
Comments
Porcupine 5 years, 5 months ago
This is a case where all sides are wrong. The owners of this country are wrong. The owners of BTC are wrong. The politicians in this country are wrong. The union leaders are wrong. The workers in this country are wrong. And, because I may be from a different country, I am wrong. The only ones who were right are the ones who said we should have spent more time reading, learning and expanding our minds.
Tarzan 5 years, 5 months ago
I have not seen the video allegedly circulating on social media, but I have read news reports detailing the purportedly offensive statements that started all this, and those comments far from offensive, seem nothing but the bare and obvious truth. Sorry if the truth hurts. BTC is a nightmare, fools-mess, and it was turned into that by a totally entitled union leadership and endless PLP government interference it its operations. This xenophobic aggression against managers born in another country is embarrassing and demonstrates the totally untenable position of the unions in this matter. These miscreants should all be fired forthwith. If not the entire enterprise will simply be put into bankruptcy by the excoriating effects of the marketplace and all the current Bahamian employees will be out on the street looking for a job.
joeblow 5 years, 5 months ago
Maynard has the worst kind of ignorance, the arrogant simpleminded kind and does not reflect well on the rest of us!
bahamianson 5 years, 5 months ago
How come no one has criticized him for saying " Go Back To Jamaica?" Wow, what hypocrites.
realfreethinker 5 years, 5 months ago
Maynard is a boongie hole. People of his ilk have destroyed the working minds of Bahamians. He is a real threat to the survival of the Bahamian work force and by extension our country
Millennial242 5 years, 5 months ago
That type of talk should be rejected in our society. We must do better to get better.
themessenger 5 years, 5 months ago
I read the news today oh boy, some Union holes in Funky Nassau Town. And tho the holes were rather small, we had to count them all, now we know how many holes it takes to fill the Union Hall...................
One 5 years, 5 months ago
What a shame.
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 5 months ago
I wish we had a means by which we could put Paul Maynard where he truly belongs. He's right up there in the list of the top ten people we need to free our country of.
geostorm 5 years, 5 months ago
Union bosses again!!! This is why we can't move forward in our country. It's because of this type of ignorance! Wow! So when BTC is no longer profitable and falls into bankruptcy, what is the union going to do then? The workers will no longer have a job! Let me guess the unions will advocate for a government bail out! Smart move!!!!!
Sick and tired of all of them!
stoner 5 years, 5 months ago
I lived in the Bahamas during and after Independence and after the elections,the locals thought the Govt now owed them a living.The majority of British dependents who had business,and born in the Bahamas,closed everything down and left with all their assets due to the locals thinking that this is now our country.Mad migration of business owners left.Unemployment soared and people were hungry,crime was out of control.I lived there through all this. Don't let this happen again.It seems like it is based today's news.Foreign workers who have work permits are allowed to work and live in the Country.You people have to done it down and work it out.Please don't do public saying "GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM"!This is not good for the Bahamas.Crime is already high enough and almost out of control.You have to be careful what is said.It will cause more problems.Professional people have to be careful what they say in public.
sheeprunner12 5 years, 5 months ago
Maynard and his ilk should cuss Hubert Ingraham .......... he sold BTC to foreigners ...... and Sandals, Breezes etc ........... Now we see how important it is to invest in our own national essential services
Craig 5 years, 5 months ago
I blame sucessive governments and in particular the PLP for this monster they created called the unions. This Maynard character can speak publicly with impunity it seems. If there is anyone who should leave this country and never return, it should be this fool. He should be considered a national threat and dealt with appropriately. The nonesence he spews is downright dangerous.
BMW 5 years, 5 months ago
I am in awe at the way he talks He is a threat to our national security and should be dealt with accordingly.
BMW 5 years, 5 months ago
We (The people of the Bahamas) need to sell all shares in BTC. It has lost millions over the years and who is going to pay? The People of the Bahamas! Why this racist xenophobic person dont just go away.
proudloudandfnm 5 years, 5 months ago
Maynard is quite the ass....
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