By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) president pledged “we will do what we have to do” after the Government obtained a temporary court injunction ordering all doctors, nurses and air traffic controllers back to work.

Obie Ferguson, who seemed not to have been aware of the Supreme Court stay obtained yesterday by the Government until informed by Tribune Business, said it “goes without saying” that the TUC and its 14 affiliates - who all possess individual strike certificates - will advocate for either its removal or changes to the terms when all parties appear before the Supreme Court on January 28, 2025.

Despite the TUC and its affiliates previously stating their planned sick-out would only last for two days and end yesterday, the Government opted to take no chances by obtaining a Supreme Court injunction that mandates workers in the two hardest-hit sectors - the public healthcare system and air traffic control - to report to work as scheduled or be “held in contempt of court” and exposed to potential fines and jail time.

Justice Darron Ellis, in a signed injunction drawn up by the Attorney General’s Office which was the only party present at yesterday’s hearing, ordered that members of the Bahamas Air Traffic Controllers Union, the Bahamas Doctors Union, Consultant Physician Staff Association (CPSA) and Bahamas Doctors Union (BDU) be “restrained.. from taking part in any strike activity or any form of industrial action” against their employer.

Examples of such action included “refusing to report to work when scheduled to do so, or by leaving their place of employment when they are scheduled to be at work”. Justice Ellis ordered the four unions and their members to also not “induce, incite or intimidate” others, or “impede” persons from working and/or encourage others not to work. Sick leave will not be allowed without “a valid sick certificate”.

The Government has thus employed the same Supreme Court injunction tactic that it used before Christmas to halt the sick-out by members of the Airline, Airport and Allied Workers Union (AAAWU) that shut down Bahamasair’s operations for an entire day during the peak Christmas travel period.

The claimants who obtained yesterday’s injunction were the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA), the Attorney General, minister of labour and the public service, minister of health and wellness and the minister of tourism, investments and aviation. The latter has ministerial responsibility for air traffic control at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA).

Mr Ferguson, upon being informed of the Government’s legal manoeuvres, told Tribune Business of the injunction: “I guess we’ll have to see it and respond to it. We’ll see what happens when we get it. We will do what we have to do.”

Asked whether the TUC and its affiliates will either seek to overturn the injunction or persuade the Supreme Court to vary its terms and conditions, the TUC president signalled this was exactly what the union movement will likely do.

“It goes without saying. We have a legitimate situation,” Mr Ferguson said. “We have a legitimate right to be heard, and we’ll make our case with that. We’re going to follow the law. The law is there to be followed by everybody. We’ll do what we have to do. We want to see what they have, but we know we have 14 [strike] certificates.”

The Government’s caution may have been wise as the TUC president did not definitively confirm whether the sick-out, which the unions are denying represented a strike or industrial action, was still due to end yesterday as originally planned or that no further industrial action was planned for a later date.

“I don’t know about that,” Mr Ferguson replied when questioned by Tribune Business. “This is the second day, so we’ll see what happens today. I’m going to talk with my colleagues this afternoon and see what the deal is. We want this to be resolved like yesterday. We need to solve the problem.”

Dr Duane Sands, ex-minister of health who was among senior physicians filling the void created by the absence of up to 98 percent of the BDU’s junior doctors, said the Government’s move to seek Supreme Court recourse was “not surprising” but challenged whether it would further inflame industrial tensions as he urged “cooler heads to prevail”.

Comparing the injunction to the Government “winning the skirmish but worsening the war”, he asserted: “I think it’s probably going to inflame the situation a little bit more. I’m not sure it was necessary and, you know, skirmish won and now the war intensifies.

“The goal ultimately is to sit down and talk to arrive at a compromise, and I’m sure the justices at some point in time will tell both parties to get in a room and work this out. This is ultimately what the direction is going to be....

“I get it. The Government finds itself in a tough spot and doesn’t want to be seen to be soft, but I’m not certain this is the way to go,” Dr Sands continued. “We’ll see; we shall see. Cooler heads ought to prevail, and this is about rolling up the sleeves, sitting around the negotiating table, thrashing out differences and agreeing not to leave tell you get an agreement.

“This is what needs to happen. Hopefully they will recognise the need to use non-judgmental, non-punitive and a non-threatening approach to resolution. This can go south very quickly.” The Bahamian public healthcare system, especially the hospitals and care facilities under the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA), have been among the agencies most heavily impacted by the sick-out.

“I shudder to think of the potential consequences to patients,” Dr Sands had said, prior to the injunction’s confirmation, if the healthcare sick-out had extended into a third day. “It’s not a sustainable situation. It’s absolutely not sustainable. We can only hope that, as was forecasted, this is going to be an isolated two-day event and the expectation is things will return to normal tomorrow [today].

“I think that is very important. We can only delay certain things for so long. On a good day the public healthcare facilities are challenged with capacity constraints. You add this additional strain and something is going to give, something is going to break, and in health that is going to be measured in human terms.”

Tribune Business was informed by aviation sources on Monday that air traffic control at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) was short-staffed in the morning, which resulted in the authorities only permitting scheduled commercial and cargo flights.

“They didn’t allow any general aviation planes this morning,” one contact, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. “There was only scheduled airlift and cargo.” However, Hinsey McKenzie, the Bahamas Air Traffic Controllers Union’s (BATCU) president, hinting at the reduced staffing levels suggested that those who appeared for work will soon be fatigued and unable to keep it up if industrial action is prolonged.

“I believe they have put him some things in place,” Mr McKenzie said then. “I know I spoke with management since about Friday and they are quite aware.

“I know they have management who can work, who are trained. It’s not that they aren’t trained. So we anticipate that they go for more than a day or two. They may not have the staff and ability to run the facility that long. They may put in for a good day, but after today I don’t think they would be able to do what they have to do tomorrow [today].”