By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

TRADE Union Congress (TUC) president Obie Ferguson yesterday urged all unions in The Bahamas to get “in order”, accusing employers of finding the most minute points to frustrate workers and delay negotiations.

While speaking at a press conference yesterday on the long standing recognition issue between Sandals and the Bahamas Hotel Maintenance and Allied Workers Union (BHMAWU) headed by Lynden Taylor, Mr Ferguson also noted that a Court of Appeal judgement last year had effectively left 97 per cent of the unions in the country without a industrial agreement.

“The employers in The Bahamas today, they are questioning every single move that will give them just a scintilla of evidence to go to court and further delay negotiations,” Mr Ferguson said. “In this country today there is no union with what we would call an industrial agreement. There may be two or three.

“The Court of Appeal has ruled on that. We had all operated with the view that once an agreement expires those  agreements continue until a new agreement is reached. If that is the case 97 per cent of unions in this country are operating without a valid industrial agreement.

“That means that if you go to court you cannot succeed. The highest court in this land says that your agreement is invalid unless you can show a valid certificate for the relevant period.” Mr Ferguson described this situation as a “recipe for disruption”.

Mr Ferguson was referring to the Court of Appeal decision which found that the Grand Lucayan was not obligated to keep providing Christmas bonuses and ham and turkey to union members after their industrial agreement had expired.

The appellate court decision overturned an earlier Supreme Court ruling that the provisions of the expired industrial agreement had been incorporated into the individual contracts of the Grand Lucayan staff. Finding in favour of the appeal by the Freeport-based property’s owner, Hutchison Lucaya, the Court of Appeal also ruled that the Commonwealth Union of Hotel Workers and Allied Workers had “no standing” to bring the action.

This was because the 2002 agreement with the Grand Lucayan had been signed by the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU), which the Commonwealth Union subsequently defeated and replaced as the bargaining agent for the resort’s line staff.

Due to the fact that the Commonwealth Union was neither a party to the expired industrial agreement nor individual staff employment contracts, the Court of Appeal said the case should have been brought by the impacted workers and not the union.

Commenting on the Sandals matter yesterday, Mr Ferguson said: “Sandals was successful in obtaining an injunction in restraining  the workers from Sandals in participating in industrial or strike action. This matter has been going on now for little over a year and the workers are in no position to do what workers intend to do when there is a bargaining impasse.

“The matter went to the Supreme Court. We succeeded at the Supreme Court, where the matter was stayed. Sandals then issued a notice of appeal and the matters was appealed to the Court of Appeal and on April 1 we were successful in the Court of Appeal which discharged the injunction making it possible for BHMAWU to begin the process of negotiations.”

Mr Ferguson said that the union planned to send a letter to Sandals Royal Bahamian’s general manager, advising him that it would wish to begin negotiations on a new agreement on Friday.

“This is consistent with the original position that they had adopted,” he said. “We had submitted a proposal. They had asked for a time to compile a counter proposal. Since then we have had a number of court cases and they were not prepared to do anything until the Court of Appeal made a determination on the matter.

“That particular action has been determined in favour of the Maintenance Union. It’s been a very long and lengthy road. From as far back as 2011 I appeared at the Privy Council which ruled in our favour. We appeared before Justice Winder, who ruled in our favour and the Court of Appeal ruled on this injunction in our favour dismissing the Sandals injunction.

“There is no question that there is a legal basis for our case. All of us are happy and I am very pleased that the road is now clear for us to negotiate. Strike is always an option to the union. It is something that is used very sparingly and tends to occur when there is not negotiation in good faith.”

Mr Ferguson urged all trade unions yesterday to get in order. “I call on all of my colleagues to get their unions in order because employers are calling on the most minute points to frustrate the workers.”