By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

LESLIE Miller has several words for Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis amid union pushback to potential Bahamas Power and Light reform: “Hold Ya Head.”

“Stand ya ground,” he added yesterday. “We don’t call you ‘Brave’ for nothing. Please don’t cave in because we’ve been doing that for the last 50 years. Let somebody show some guts.”

The former chairman of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation accused BPL’s unions yesterday of threatening to hold the country hostage to protect their interests at the expense of lower electricity costs –– part of what he said has been the unions’ playbook for decades.

His comments come amid uncertainty about the Davis administration’s plans. Mr Davis has said he wants “strategic partners” with the funding needed to fix BPL.

 The administration has been tightlipped amid claims that it intends to separate the generation side of BPL from the transmission and distribution side of the utility company.

 BPL unions have come out against what they have learned so far.

 In a letter to Mr Davis over the weekend, Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union (BEUMU) president Christopher Hanna said his union “strongly opposes the projects that you and your team outlined” on Saturday.

 “While we applaud the end result of lowering the energy costs for all Bahamians, the ends certainly do not justify the means,” he said.

 “The tactics that you intend to employ operate outside of our established industrial agreement and remove the protections for the workers, or in other words, it is blatant union busting.”

 Similarly, Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEMU) president Kyle Wilson wrote to the prime minister, saying the proposed deal “strips Bahamians of ownership opportunities and undermines job stability for Bahamians”.

 Mr Miller frequently clashed with BEC’s unions when he was chairman of the corporation.

 “The Bahamian people don’t get any benefit from BEC,” he said yesterday. The employees get the benefits — putting a gun to our heads; if you don’t give us what we want, we gon’ turn your lights off, which they did over the past 50 years.”

“They got away with it because every government caved into them after three days.

 “I was there for ten years and went through that.”

  “Someone always calls; either the prime minister; give them what they want.”

“Remember, you’re dealing with less than 1000 people.”

 “Who should you look out for? The few or the many? Who elected you? The BEC personnel or the Bahamian people?”

 Mr Miller said the salaries of BPL workers “are the best” in the public sector. 

 “What’s so special about them?” he asked. “Do you realise that a school teacher working for 43 years with a Master’s degree doesn’t take home $2,500? But on the counterpart, someone who work to BEC for 30 years, they take home almost $4,000 a month. How the hell you figure that?”

On Sunday, Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard criticised the Davis administration for not revealing more about its plans, which have likely been in the works for months.

Mr Miller conceded that the administration’s approach “shouldn’t be as private as it is”.

“The unions,” he said, “have a right to say this been going on since June and you just telling me? What gon’ happen to all the goodies I been making? What gon’ happen when my overtime stop?”