The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Trade unions are due to meet this Saturday to determine their strike strategy with one labour leader describing industrial relations as “very, very fragile” as he warned: “Enough is enough.”

Obie Ferguson KC, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, told Tribune Business the umbrella body and its individual affiliates will gather at Trinity Hall in Stapledon Gardens next Saturday between 8am and 4pm for a conclave to decide “the precise time when these strikes are to take effect” as he voiced displeasure with unresolved grievances involving multiple unions and the Government.

Also expressing unhappiness that several key terms from the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and two major umbrella union bodies prior to the September 2021 general election, remain unfulfilled, he said that while numerous industrial agreements have been signed these were “only one part of the puzzle”.

Mr Ferguson, in particular, told this newspaper that stipulations such as unions being represented on the Boards of pension funds responsible for their members’ retirement savings have yet to be implemented and argued that the TUC cannot allow the Government to “deviate” or unilaterally change what both parties had agreed to prior to the election.

Pledging not to permit anybody to “interfere with” or undermine the trade union movement’s commitment to what he described as the best interests of thousands of Bahamian workers, Mr Ferguson slammed as “ludicrous” suggestions that he and the TUC wanted both a substantial minimum wage hike and livable wage to be implemented overnight.

Reaffirming that these are goals which will take time to achieve, the TUC chief said the labour movement what not demand anything that the economy cannot bear while promising: “We are not going to impose things that cannot be done.”

Mr Ferguson, confirming that the recent rally at the House of Labour on Wulff Road was in effect a warm-up to prepare TUC affiliates for the possibility of industrial action, revealed that they had also been advised to apply for and take a strike poll, and then obtain the necessary certificate, so that any strike move complies with Bahamian law.

“We’re having a conclave on November 16 at Trinity Hall in Stapledon from 8am to 4pm,” he revealed. “There are a number of things that are going to happen there. But, prior to that, we had a rally to get several of our people ready for a potential strike because we are having a difficulty with some of the issues that we thought ought to have been resolved. There seems to not be an effort to resolve them.”

The Bahamas Customs, Immigration and Allied Workers Union recently held its own strike poll with its president saying he was now awaiting receipt of the formal certificate paving the way for potential industrial action. Mr Ferguson said the air traffic controllers union had also taken a strike vote, while also identifying the unions representing the nurses, junior doctors, straw vendors and NIB staff as having grievances, too.

He then bemoaned the Bahamas Hotel and Managerial Association’s (BHMA) inability to seal what he alleged has already been agreed with Lucayan Renewal Holdings, the Government-owned special purpose vehicle (SPV) that holds the Grand Lucayan, to pay the middle management members of the union some $6,000 “with double increments”.

“We take the view that there is no Bahamas without the workers of this country,” Mr Ferguson thundered. “It’s a matter now that, at conclave, it will be determined when these strikes are to take effect.” Asked about the state of industrial relations in The Bahamas, he replied: “Very, very fragile for a number of reasons.”

Effectively accusing the PLP administration of failing to live up to all the obligations set out in the MoU signed pre-election, the TUC president explained: “The House of Labour was supposed to have been renovated. Nothing has happened to the House of Labour. The MoU made provision for all the unions to have representation on the Board of their members’ pension funds.

“We took a resolution, the TUC. We took a position that we are no longer going to continue the way we are going. We have to look after the interests of the Bahamian workers. That’s the reason why we supported the PLP, we supported the party, on the basis that certain agreements were reached, but when we have the Government not wanting to sign an agreement because they are trying to sell the hotel, that’s a major concern.

“The labour agreement plays an integral role, an integral part, in any agreement reached. This is the reason why we are doing what we are doing. If we agreed something, you cannot unilaterally come out and say you are going to change it. We’re not going to accept that. When we signed the agreement, we signed it together. If you are going to deviate, we need to be part of that,” Mr Ferguson added.

“We are committed to the 230,000-plus Bahamian workers and will not allow anyone to interfere with that. If we do that, we are damaging our commitments made to the workers are the commitments we made in the MoU.”

The Davis administration has frequently pointed to the numerous industrial agreements signed with the public sector unions as a major point of differentiation with its Minnis predecessor, and Mr Ferguson conceded: “We’re not denying that a number of industrial agreements have been concluded. We are not denying that. But that’s only one part of the puzzle.

“We are saying enough is enough. We will do what we have to do. That’s why we gave special instructions to every union participating in this action that they get a certificate, get a poll done, so they do things lawfully in accordance with the law.....

“The conclave is going to bring a number of things. We are going to come with a lot of things to change the environment in which we are now operating. Labour is a major factor of production, and therefore labour must have a place at the table,” he said.

“We are not going to allow them to destroy the workers in this country. We are not going to allow that. This is not that we are against the PLP. We are not saying that at all. Our first obligation is to the workers of this country.”

Mr Ferguson also fired back at critics who accuse the trade unions of being both unrealistic and irresponsible in their demands for both a livable wage and a $90 or 34.6 percent increase in the present minimum wage, which would take it from $260 to $350.

“We didn’t say the livable wage must come today,” he told Tribune Business.”We didn’t say that. We agreed that we would work towards a living wage. For those who say something negative, we never said it must come today. We live in The Bahamas, we know the standard of affordability in this country. We are not going to impose things that cannot be done...

“We have asked for a minimum wage at $350. We never said that must be implemented tomorrow. It’s going to require consultation with the Government, it’s going to require consultation with the private sector. To suggest that we are saying it must come now is ludicrous. People are creating mischief. The conclave is going to deal with these things very specifically.”