By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

THE president of Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute said a recent memo sent to staff was not meant to silence anyone, but to just remind them of an existing internal policy.

The memo sent to BTVI faculty and staff told workers to note the policy of an internal human resources manual which dictates that employees should use established policies and procedures to voice concerns and seek resolution to issues.

“Any employee who wilfully creates or distributes anonymous documents, letters and phone calls etc containing libellous, slanderous, defamatory, erroneous, scandalous or unfounded information and is disruptive to the mission, administration, students and educational environment of the Institute shall be subject to disciplinary action, inclusive of summary dismissal for extreme violation of the policy,” the memo said.

In response to the memo, president of the Union of Tertiary Educations of The Bahamas Daniel Thompson accused BTVI’s president, Dr Robert Robertson, of trying to “silence” staff members. UTEB is seeking to become the bargaining agent for BTVI faculty.

“We don’t have a union here at BTVI,” Dr Robertson said when contacted yesterday. “That is an existing policy that predates me. That’s been a part of BTVI, I understand, for about eight, nine or ten years. From time to time we send policies like that around to remind people of what the existing policy says. So it’s got nothing to do with trying to keep people quiet at all. “Policies like that are sent out regularly by public relations. So a policy like that is a pretty regular initiative. Basically it is saying to go through your chain of command if you have any questions, or concerns or issues and we will try to resolve them at the first instance. But again, that predates me, that’s been here a long time. So I had nothing to do with selecting that policy to send out. They are sent out from HR and PR to faculty and staff across the entire organisation on a regular basis.”

Asked if the union overreacted, he said, “I don’t want to say that. We don’t even have a union, to start with, so if they are complaining about some issue that somebody has brought forward, then I can tell you with full certainty that there was nothing nefarious about sending out an existing policy.

“They are in the process of going through a statutory process to be a union in an organisation like this. So they have filed, I believe, with the government a request to represent faculty members here. I don’t really know what the status of that is. I spoke to some members of that union, over a year ago before the COVID lockdown, so I don’t know where that sits at this time, to be honest with you.”

Dr Robertson said some of the complaints that come up frequently are about structure organisation and pay issues.

He continued: “Again, this predates me. They keep talking about having a career path and more structured opportunities to advance their careers. I don’t disagree as that is a very important thing. They know the government, we have a loan with Caribbean Development Bank of almost $10m. A portion of that loan has a specific consultancy project called, ‘Compensation and Human Resources’.”

He said the project has started and the intent is to address those concerns. He said that he supports the fact that there should be a structured review.

Meanwhile, UTEB has taken issue with comments made by Education Minister Jeff Lloyd. When contacted by The Tribune on Sunday to respond to the union’s grievances, Mr Lloyd said if UTEB wanted to get his attention then “they know how to reach me.”

This comment infuriated Mr Thompson, who sent The Tribune a slew of letters and press releases showing that his union had a long-standing issue with BTVI in its bid to unionise faculty. One of the letters was addressed to the prime minister and copied to the minister of education.

Mr Thompson said: “In response to the quoted commentary of Minister of Education Jeffery Lloyd, I have enclosed the communication to the prime minister, which includes letters to the minister of labour. The minister of education was copied in all communications. It is therefore disingenuous of the honourable minister and by extension The Bahamas government to simulate ignorance to the plight of workers at BTVI.

“Suffice it to say, we have received acknowledgement of these letters from none, except the leader of the opposition who was copied in the communication to the prime minister. We have no alternative than to rely on the fourth estate to promote the cause of the workers at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute. We simply invite the responsible ministers to engage the process and work on behalf of workers. Those letters were emailed and hand delivered.”