By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) president yesterday asserted the umbrella body and its 14 affiliates are “strong like a monkey’s tail” as he hit back at critics of their members’ sick-outs and strike action.
Obie Ferguson KC told Tribune Business that union leaders criticising the strategy as “archaic”, and urging that negotiations with the Government resume, were “creating mischief” and not part of the TUC in what appeared to be a swipe at Dwayne Woods, head of the National Congress of Trade Unions of The Bahamas (NCTUB) and Belinda Wilson, the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) head.
And, in response to suggestions that the 48-hour sick out had drawn a mixed response with not all union members participating, he argued that it had been “very successful” in achieving its objectives. Mr Ferguson said that, apart from individual grievances harboured by TUC affiliates, the action was also sparked by the Government’s alleged failure to fulfill the terms of the 2021 pre-election agreement it signed with the unions.
Pia Glover-Rolle, minister of labour and the public service, earlier this week said “96 percent” of the 22 conditions stipulated in that Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) have been “delivered” on by the Davis administration. However, this was effectively disputed by Mr Ferguson, who identified to this newspaper numerous clauses he alleged the Government has failed to comply with.
These, he argued, included ensuring that “all pension boards and private major health committees shall have equal representation between employees (unions) and employers”, plus an agreement that the Government would “supply to each umbrella union a parcel of land for the building of their national headquarters”.
Other conditions that Mr Ferguson asserted remain unfulfilled include “allowing for at least 16 hours of rest between shifts for each employee” and doubling the ‘cap’ on statutory Employment Act redundancy pay from the present 12-month ceiling to 24 months.
“We want everything,” he told Tribune Business. “We did it. We did an exhaustive consultation and discussion on these matters and we agreed to do it within five years. These things are not really complicated and a lot of them don’t involve money.
“It’s going into the fourth year now and we thought this would be a thing of the past. We signed that on August 5, 2021, and this is now January 2025. This is now almost four years later. That’s precisely and exactly what the problem is. Meeting without resolving matters doesn’t make sense...
“These are specific things that were agreed. When you sign an agreement, you own it. You must own it. This has nothing to do with politics. If you don’t want to own it, don’t sign it. That’s where we are. All I am asking you to do is own it. If you cannot do it, let us know what the deal is. We are reasonable people. You’re coming back almost four years later and saying you don’t have it.”
The MoU was signed on the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) behalf by Philip Davis KC in his capacity as party leader and Fred Mitchell, who was then its spokesperson on labour matters. Besides concerns over whether the Government has lived up to that agreement, Mr Ferguson signalled that the 48-hour sick-out was also intended to create pressure for a further $90 rise in the weekly minimum wage to $350.
That would represent a 34.6 percent increase to the present $260, which was achieved after a recent increase at the beginning of 2023. “That’s what we’re fighting for,” Mr Ferguson told Tribune Business. “The basic salary, the minimum wage, of $260 is not adequate. We’re not against anybody. We’re just for working people. $350 is not unreasonable.
“I want to say to Bahamian workers, all 220,000 of them, that if it becomes necessary that we have to call on them to fight for their $350 as a minimum wage we would look forward for them to come and support the doctors, the nurses, the NIB unions, the industrial agreements that need to be signed, Customs and Immigration and all the 14 unions. What we are doing is going to affect them as well.
“People vote their interests. A man’s wage is part of his interest if not the most important one. We want them to get $350 [per week] as part of the progress towards a liveable wage. We want what is necessary for the working people of this country. The Bahamas is all of us. I tell you we are strong; like a monkey’s tail.”
Mr Ferguson said the Government has yet to contact the TUC and its affiliates to resume industrial negotiations in the wake of this week’s two-day sick-out, which was due to end yesterday, but added: “I’m certain government will do what governments do - sit down, be reasonable and resolve this matter. It’s nothing political, there’s no need to attack individuals. We don’t do that.
“Workers rights are critical. Workers rights, to me, are a critical part of the existence of the nation. Workers want better wages, better conditions and that’s the reason why they’re supporting us. When the Prime Minister calls asking to meet, I have no problem with that. We’ve always had a good relationship. I don’t know what went wrong.”
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