The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A TRADE union leader yesterday said he had informed his colleagues that industrial action in any form must be avoided until the Bahamian economy fully recovers from COVID-19.

Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, told Tribune Business that he had informed its affiliate unions that “industrial harmony is essential” to helping ailing businesses rebound from the pandemic’s devastation and start hiring once again.

Agreeing that workplace disruption, whether it be through strikes, sick-outs or go-slows was the last thing the ailing economy needed, Mr Ferguson said labour and the unions needed to foster a “partnership” approach with employers to ensure that any disputes that emerge - especially over the next two years - are resolved amicably.

“With what is going on, I think all industrial unrest should be avoided on the basis that the employer and union decide if there’s a difference of opinion we sit down intelligently and discuss it,” he told this newspaper. “It cannot be in anyone’s interests to do anything to disrupt the economy.

“Certainly, from where I sit as president, I’ve said to all my colleagues that this is time for us to look at how we help the economy. That helps our members. If a hotel opens up, it means people go back to work.

“Our job should be to help that. Yes, you’re going to have disputes, but it doesn’t have to be personal. It’s driven by the economy. We need to help the employer open up, run his business so that workers get a job,” Mr Ferguson continued.

“If there’s a dispute it doesn’t mean they have to walk off the job, it doesn’t mean they have to have a strike. You discuss it with the employer and work it out. That has to be the process for us in returning the economy, and hopefully the employer does the same thing. We have to move away from a strike or industrial action. I’m for working as a team.”

Conceding that The Bahamas’ post-Dorian and COVID-19 struggles call for a different approach to industrial relations, the TUC president added: “No one wants to destroy the country. No trade union leader I know wants to destroy the country.

“The employers of the country must be prepared to treat with the unions as partners, not that the unions are in the business of trying to disrupt the employer. In times like this we need to work in a partnership relationship, and respectful partnership relationship. Taking industrial action and stuff, I’m not saying it won’t happen but we have to keep the economy going.”

Mr Ferguson warned trade unions not to try and seek blood from a stone, or squeeze a dry carcass, for if there were no employers there would be no jobs, and therefore no union members and no union dues.

“You can’t ask for something if nothing is there,” he added. “It’s in our interests to forge a respectful relationship. It’s very essential that industrial harmony and industrial peace be enjoyed throughout until we work through this unfortunate time.

“After that we don’t have to go back to the way we used to do it. At this kind of time it’s very important we find common ground between the union, employer and worker, and work diligently to get this country back to what it used to be. We want an economy that is going to benefit all citizens.”

Peter Goudie, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) labour specialist, yesterday told Tribune Business that any form of industrial unrest would only cause further “chaos” for a severely weakened economy that is still struggling to breathe. “Any labour unrest would make absolutely no sense,” he agreed. “We’re in trouble, companies are in trouble, and if anybody wants to start making trouble with labour unrest it would be chaos. Businesses are closing down; The Linen Shop was only the beginning.

“To have any labour unrest now.... We’re praying the hotels will open on December 10 and December 17, and we get tourists back here and get people employed. People are out there right now on $100 per week. It would just be chaos; chaos for the country, chaos for the worker. It makes absolutely no sense.

“We’re going through an extremely difficult time in our lives. It’s awful. I can’t imagine what mental trauma a lot of those people who are out there on $100 a week are going through. How they pay their bills and feed themselves, I have no idea. I feel so sorry for the children. They are just the victims of circumstance. It’s heart-wrenching right now,” Mr Goudie said.

“There’s a lot of people that cannot afford to take care of their children. You just have to wonder what they’re going through. I can’t imagine it.

“I have no way to fathom what they’re going through right now other than to feel dreadful. There’s people that can’t afford to eat.”