By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE country’s two umbrella unions yesterday put their support behind the upcoming “Black Friday” protest, calling for Bahamians and workers throughout The Bahamas to come out and “display their displeasure” in the country’s current state of affairs.

Trade Union Congress (TUC) President Obie Ferguson, along with National Congress of Trade Unions Bahamas (NCTUB) President John Pinder, who is also the president of the Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU), called on workers to “make an effort” to be a part of the march in order to “demonstrate your rights as a Bahamian.”

The two union leaders made their statements during a press conference in Rawson Square, which was attended by a number of representatives of various civic, religious, and environmental groups who put their support behind the upcoming march.

The silent protest, titled “We March”, will begin at Arawak Cay at 1pm on Friday. From there, participants will walk to Parliament and remain there until 1am the following day. The event posted on Facebook has attracted significant support from activists and civic organisations, including environmental group Raising Awareness about the Bahamas Landfill (RABL).

According to lead organiser Ranard Henfield, protests are also expected to be staged simultaneously in Grand Bahama, Abaco, as well as in New York and Toronto, Canada. The march will be broadcast via Periscope and Facebook Live, according to officials.

“I’m inviting all members of the (BPSU) and our umbrella organisations and our NCTUB, all workers, to certainly make an effort to be a part of this march, to demonstrate your rights as a Bahamian,” Mr Pinder said. “Too often we allow the police department and governments to frighten us from our own constitutional rights, to be able to express ourselves. Our Constitution allows for the freedom of expression, and that’s all we want to do is express our concern for our country.

“So I’m inviting all of our workers to come out and display your displeasure on how long it’s taken out government to correct these outstanding matters.”

Mr Ferguson, during his remarks, not only called on Bahamians to support the march, but to also register to vote in the upcoming general election and “vote your interest.”

“We will not support you to destroy us. We will not support you to strengthen those persons who try to oppress the average man. Four, five, six years before a trade dispute can be heard. So what the worker suppose to do? Ladies and gentleman, I’m asking the church, and every union in this land, and every worker who is not a part of a union, to be on that march on Friday.

“Be out there, support the movement, support yourselves. Let us get registered, so when that polls open up, we will go to the poll, and we will vote for our interests. So I’m looking forward for all workers, whether you’re in the union, outside of the union, whether you support the union or not, these are basic rights for all of us.”

Meanwhile, Mr Henfield, activist and founder of the Our Carmichael Community Initiative, called on the public to join the “movement.”

Aside from the march, Mr Henfield said a massive voter registration drive will be conducted by the Parliamentary Registration Department in Rawson Square that same day. He also said his group will begin to form “focus groups” to “allow “persons after this march to come together, put our minds and brains together to find and put forth solutions.”

“We must stand in solidarity and stop the individual efforts to fight our individual causes, and come together and say to any administration and any political hopeful, that the people deserve better and we want a Bahamas for Bahamians,” he said. “We want an administration that looks out for us, and we want a country that serves the betterment, the empowerment and the enrichment of Bahamians.

“We are prepared to draft the legislation that Parliament has failed to draft in our interests. We are prepared to file court actions on behalf of the people, actions that the (Office of the) Attorney General has failed to file. So we are prepared to move forward, this is only stage one.”