By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR Minister Shane Gibson says the Government is not in a financial position to give preferential treatment to one union over another.

Mr Gibson said that since coming to office last year, the Christie administration has tried to reach a compromise with trade unionists and ultimately settle and approve a number of agreements. These include the Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU), the Bahamas Union of Teachers and employees at COB.

On the other hand, there have also been several instances of industrial action taken in the past few months.

Speaking outside of the Cabinet Office yesterday, Mr Gibson said it was unfortunate that some unions had decided to advocate “beyond what the government is able to do” but he was aiming to classify “essential services” to prohibit action being taken by certain types of workers.

He said: “We took a policy position that because of the financial position of the Government and the country at this time, we are unable to give anything more than what was given to the Bahamas Union of Teachers and the Bahamas Public Service Union.

“It is unfortunate that some unions still want to go beyond that point. I mean the country just simply cannot afford it.

“Being a former trade unionist myself, I know what the unions have at their disposal. I also know that there is something called essential services and one of the things I’ll be recommending to this government is to classify certain services as essential services. This means that those services will not be able to take certain types of industrial action that could possibly put lives at risk.”

Mr Gibson hopes that over the next few weeks, the Government will be able to settle outstanding industrial agreements.