By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A trade union leader is warning of rising workplace tensions as he accused various government agencies of failing to either “honour” or “execute” industrial agreements.

Obie Ferguson KC, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, told Tribune Business that the Government is not living up to its side of the bargain made in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed with the labour movement prior to the 2021 general election even though the unions have “lived up to our commitment to maintain industrial peace for at least three years”.

In his address to mark last Friday’s Labour day holiday, he called on Prime Minister Philip Davis KC to intervene in at least eight industrial relations situations - involving both the private and public sector - that are becoming increasingly contentious and for the Government to live up to the commitments it made in the MoU while in opposition.

“The major problem we’re having now is we made a commitment to the Government that we’ll try to maintain industrial peace and the evidence shows we’ve done that for at least three years,” Mr Ferguson told this newspaper. 

“What’s happening now is that some of the agreements are signed but are not being honoured. We have signed agreements but the relevant government department is not honouring the terms of the agreement. We have the air traffic controllers, for example. BPL, for example. 

“We have the agreement in Grand Bahama with the Grand Lucayan, Lucayan Renewal Holdings. We have an agreement which is completed but it’s not executed. We have the nurses union, the doctors union. Practically all the unions. The ones that they have agreed, they’re not honouring them, and the ones we have completed they are not prepared to have the agreement executed.”

Mr Ferguson added that the Bahamas Hotel and Managerial Association’s (BHMA) 40 middle manager members at the Grand Lucayan were awaiting sign-off by the Government, which ultimately owns the resort via a special purpose vehicle (SPV), to sign-off on an agreement that will see them receive a $6,000 lump sum and increment over the lifetime of the deal.

“I’m going to have to meet with my colleagues,” Mr Ferguson added. “It’s obvious that the union cannot sit there... We will have, and all other unions affected in this matter, to take a position on this.” Asked whether this could lead to possible industrial action, and the fraying of workplace harmony, the TUC chief replied: “That is very possible. Very, very possible.

“The workers are upset. They call me for their money. One of them called me and asked if they would get their money today. We’re going to be doing something about that. We’re not going to let them get away with it. You cannot give workers in Nassau one thing and Grand Bahama something different. That is not going to go down well with us.

“We’re going to have to do what we have to do. We agreed not to have industrial action in our land. We agreed to that, and the evidence shows that we lived up to it at this point.” Asked how soon the unions need their agreements honoured and recognised, Mr Ferguson replied: “We need it done like yesterday.”

Besides the industrial situations involving public sector healthcare unions, such as the Consultant Physicians Staff Association and Bahamas Doctors Union, Mr Ferguson also singled out the BHMA’s relations with Baha Mar, as well as employers such as Sandals Royal Bahamian and Restaurants (Bahamas). The latter is the Bahamian Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) franchise.

Mr Ferguson, who has fought many battles with Sandals in trying to have a union represent its workers, said in his labour day address: “Sandals Royal Bahamian and Baha Mar are opposed to trade unions being recognised as bargaining agents for their workers. They obviously need a lecture on The Bahamas’ evolution and how it became an investment of choice for foreign investors and local investors....

“All investors coming to invest in The Bahamas should be given a lecture on the history of The Bahamas so that they would see that labour played a pivotal role in The Bahamas from 1942 to present. So, to try to deny the working people the right to join a union of their choice is a fundamental breach of Section 24 of the constitution of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

“If an investor or multinational corporation disregards your constitutional right, he/she is disregarding and disrespecting the entire country, which we cannot allow.” Mr Ferguson also urged that The Bahamas “continue to move the goal post towards a livable wage for working people in The Bahamas” as opposed to the present minimum wage structure.

He based this on both the study by University of The Bahamas (UoB) researchers, who in 2021 pegged Nassau’s monthly living wage at $2,625 and the equivalent for Grand Bahama at $3,550 per month, plus the concept of a livable wage as outlined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on March 13, 2024.

The TUC chief said the ILO had defined this as “the wage level that is necessary to afford a decent standard of living for workers and their families, taking into account the country’s circumstances and calculations for the work performed during the normal hours of work”.

Mr Ferguson added: “The agreement says that the estimation of living wages should follow a number of principles including the usage of evidence-based methodologies and robust data, consultations with workers and employers’ organisations, transparency, public availability and the consideration of regional and local contexts and socio-economic and cultural realities.”

He also urged trade unions to “widen their scope beyond that of collective bargaining and grievance handling”. Mr Ferguson added: “The trade union movement should be re-classified as the labour movement, making membership available to all working people and not just wage earners. Upon retrenchment, retirement or resignation, workers should be allowed to continue to be members.

“In effect, what I am saying is that the trade union movement will have to cease being a trade union movement and become, once again, a labour movement - a movement representing the interests and needs of working people.

“The new labour movement would have to provide for such things as child care facilities, profit-sharing arrangements, employee stock options and ownership schemes, and further elements of true economic partnership... In closing we must move away from being consumers to owners, tenants to landlords, trustees to beneficiaries. This must change if we want change for the future.”