By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Customs Immigration and Allied Workers Union has filed a trade dispute with the Department of Labour contesting the Davis administration’s appointment of William Pratt as director of the Department of Immigration.

BCIAWU president Deron Brooks said the union will challenge the administration in court if the decision is not reversed. 

Mr Brooks said the union secured a Supreme Court victory in 2021 after arguing that immigration officers cannot be contract workers.

A former director of the department, Mr Pratt, 66, is past retirement age. He was recently brought back to lead the institution after Keturah Ferguson, 62, retired early.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis told The Tribune last week that Ms Ferguson retired willingly. He did not say whether she was asked to go.

He said Mr Pratt was brought back because of his experience.

Many believe Ms Ferguson’s position became threatened after Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard leaked documents showing senior immigration officers were concerned about former Immigration Minister Keith Bell’s alleged interference in their work.

Mr Brooks said the immigration union supported Ms Ferguson. He said she was a stickler for following proper protocols.

He said the union believes her promotion to the top spot was the best decision any administration made for the department in the last decade.

“She came in battle tested, prepared, educated,” he said. “Her obtaining the office, it brought up the morale. She worked on a succession plan.”

“Although the government said it wasn’t victimisation, we cannot point to any reason she would be asked to leave.”

According to court documents, the BCIAWU challenged the Minnis administration in 2021 for appointing Clarence Russell as acting director of immigration.

The union sought a declaration from the Supreme Court that the power to make appointments to public offices belongs to the Governor-General on the advice of the Public Service Commission.

Under the Davis administration, the Office of the Attorney General did not fight the union’s position, leading then-Supreme Court Justice Indra Charles to settle the matter in the union’s favour. The government had to pay the union $10k in costs.

Mr Brooks said this experience should’ve prevented the Davis administration from appointing a contract worker head of the immigration department, a not uncommon practice since the 1990s.

“They have replaced a gazetted, fully pensionable officer with a contractually appointed person,” he said, adding qualified people are missing out on the chance for upward mobility.

“What does a young officer have to look forward to? What can they aspire to when you keep bringing in persons from the outside to occupy vacancies that persons that came up through the system could’ve occupied?”

“It is about the principle. The union cannot stand by or allow and facilitate by silence the breaching of the law and, of course, the defiance of this court order. If this is a country of laws and the employer is about upholding and enforcing the law, and this is a law enforcement agency, then this court order should not be breached for any reason.”

Administration officials did not respond to requests for comments up to press time yesterday.