By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Congress of Trade Unions of the Bahamas President John Pinder yesterday threatened to launch a mass demonstration “in short order” if the government doesn’t reverse the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s decision to approve Cable Bahamas’s application to increase its rates.

Mr Pinder, also the president of the Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU), told reporters that he would cause his “entire membership” to protest in Parliament square or Cable Bahamas headquarters, as well as have them “withdraw their business” from the cable provider should the Christie administration not heed the NCTUB’s request.

The same is true if Cable Bahamas doesn’t seek to engage in and subsequently conclude industrial agreement negotiations with the Bahamas Communications and Public Officer’s Union (BCPOU), Mr Pinder said.

Earlier this month, Cable Bahamas announced that it had received approval from URCA to increase the monthly subscription rate for residential basic cable services, called REVTV prime, from $30 to $38, a rise of 27 per cent. Commercial basic services will also increase from $50 to $64, a 28 per cent rise.

The changes are scheduled to come into effect February 8, 2016.

Speaking with reporters at a “silent” protest in Rawson Square yesterday morning, Mr Pinder, flanked by presidents and senior officials of unions that fall under the NCTUB, said he is “disheartened” that the company was granted approval to increase its rates. “We’re not satisfied that they ought to be – based on their poor performance – receiving a promotion,” Mr Pinder said. “And that’s exactly what it is. If you allow them to get an increase right now, that’s like saying you’re getting a promotion on poor performance.

“In addition to that, the government is quite aware of the fact that Cable Bahamas has no regard for the trade union movement in this country. They have their members that are a part of the (BCPOU), they were supposed to come to the table to hammer out an industrial agreement for many years now and they refuse to do so. So with the ill treatment that they are showing to their staff, and the disregard and the disrespect shown to the trade union movement, in this case the BCPOU, who has gotten the rights to be the bargaining agent for their employees, we simply feel as though the government ought not to allow that to happen at this time.”

He added: “A lot of things need to change before any sort of increase should be granted to Cable Bahamas.”

Regarding the threat of a protest, Mr Pinder said yesterday’s gathering of union heads was just the “first step in bearing some pressure on Cable Bahamas and its managerial team.”

“We didn’t apply for a permit to demonstrate; we just wanted to do a quiet protest today and send a loud and clear message that we’re representing all of our members and if we have to come here or go to the property of Cable Bahamas, we will do it the right and orderly way,” he said. “If we’re not satisfied in a few days that some effort is being made to get to the table and hammer out an industrial agreement, and the government doesn’t respond back to us as it relates to granting them an increase in their services then we’ll do what we have to do.”

Zane Lightbourne, acting president of the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT), expressed his solidarity with the NCTUB on the matter.

“For us to allow a corporation, the likes of Cable Bahamas, to do these increases, to be given to them, when they boast of profits, and to take away the little increases that we fight for, I think that is a very terrible statement to make by them,” Mr Lightbourn said. “I think it would be very weak of us to allow them to do it without some serious protest.”

On January 7, the NCTUB sent a letter to Prime Minister Perry Christie on the matter, outlining the union’s readiness to take mass action if need be to protect the interest of the Bahamian people.

In that letter, the NCTUB said Cable Bahamas has failed to live up to “its obligation to this country,” and that the NCTUB would not support “any increase in cable rates at this time”.