By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

THE Trade Union Congress (TUC) is planning to boycott this year’s Labour Day march, citing what it described as increasing political co-opting of the annual event.

TUC president Obie Ferguson, who represents nearly 18 unions, made the announcement yesterday during a press conference at the House of Labour, telling union leaders and members.

He said the decision came after internal discussions and a consensus that the national celebration has strayed from its original purpose.

The Tribune understands that the move stems from ongoing frustration over unfulfilled promises to the union movement, especially the failure to honour key commitments outlined in the memorandum of understanding signed before the last general election.

“We will celebrate Sir Randol Fawkes Labour Day,” Mr Ferguson said. “We can celebrate it right down on Wood Road in that dilapidated building. We can go right there, because that supposed to have been completed by the 50th anniversary.”

Progressive Liberal Party officials have since announced plans to launch their election campaign on Labour Day and have urged supporters to get battle ready.

Yesterday, Mr Ferguson maintained that Labour Day has become more a platform for political campaigning than a solemn commemoration of workers’ rights and struggles.

“This remind me when I was a young boy. I mean the culture. If you do not have a culture in the country, you have no country,” Mr Ferguson said. “Labour Day has exclusively always been a day for workers. There has been no mix up.”

TUC executives announced that they will host their own Labour Day activities at the House of Labour, starting at noon on June 6.

The programme will include speeches, performances, and what they described as “a proper recognition of the Bahamian worker”.

“We can have speakers because you know your issues,” Mr Ferguson said. “We can have a beautiful Labour Day celebration.”

Mr Ferguson has repeatedly voiced dissatisfaction with the Davis administration’s handling of TUC’s concerns, insisting that few, if any, issues have been resolved.

Yesterday, the union leader said that less than ten percent of the items in the signed MOU have been fulfilled, citing this as clear evidence of systemic neglect.

“We got no personal issues with ministers or prime ministers,” Mr Ferguson said. “We have issues thats affecting our workers.”

He also disagreed with Labour Minister Pia Glover Rolle’s recent characterisation of labour relations in the country as stable, describing the union’s relationship with the Ministry of the Public Service and Labour as “very conflicting”.

He argued there is “no justice and fair play” when union members must seek redress from the very authority that made the contested decisions.

He also joined other union leaders in criticising Mrs Glover-Rolle’s dual role as Labour and Public Service Minister, describing the arrangement as a clear conflict of interest.

He argued that the minister cannot lawfully or ethically act as both employer and regulator in matters concerning the country’s roughly 20,000 public servants.

Since the minister acts as the employer in disputes involving public servants, he said she should not also be the authority responsible for advancing cases to the Industrial Tribunal.

The minister’s authority to approve strike votes and certify trade disputes while also serving as the employer also undermines due process, he claimed.

He warned that this overlap enables legal technicalities to be used against unions in court, potentially leading to dismissed cases.

“She cannot be judge, jury and executioner all in one,” Mr Ferguson said. “She signed a trade dispute against herself. That does not make sense. That is a legal contradiction.”