By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A veteran trade unionist yesterday branded the threatened Labour Day boycott by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), its president and affiliates as “going to the extreme”, adding: “I totally disagree with it.”

Dave Beckford, vice-president of the Bahamas General Workers Union (BGWU), told Tribune Business he “doesn’t understand the logic” behind the move by Obie Ferguson given all the labour-friendly developments that have occurred under the Davis administration.

Pointing to the 55 industrial agreements that the Government says have been signed with unions since the September 2021 general election, he added that it was “not running” from the fact more work needs to be done to fulfill all the terms and conditions set out in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the then-opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and organised labour.

Asserting that the Davis administration “has been union friendly”, Mr Beckford also challenged whether the heads, executive councils and officers of all individual TUC-affiliated unions are supporting Mr Ferguson and the Labour Day withdrawal.

“I think that’s a bit extreme. I think that’s a bit unfortunate,” he told this newspaper of Mr Ferguson’s boycott call. “He’s making it personal, political. It’s Labour Day, not an FNM day or a PLP day. It’s not anyone’s day. It’s for workers. While you may not be happy that the Government has not fulfilled all the MoU, they’ve done some. 

“The 55 industrial agreements already signed and registered, that’s a great accomplishment. I don’t think we’ve seen that many agreements signed by any administration in its first term.... You could argue they could fulfill more [of the MoU], but it’s going to the extreme to say boycott the Labour Day march, and you and your affiliates will not be marching. That’s very sad and unfortunate.

“I don’t think the Davis administration deserves this kind of backlash or to simply come out publicly and say boycott the Labour Day march because of what’s not been fulfilled in the MoU. I don’t understand the logic of it.”

Comparing the current administration to its Minnis predecessor, which “didn’t sign one industrial agreement”, Mr Beckford added: “I don’t support it. I encourage all workers to come out and support the Labour Day march. Unions are run by their executive councils and their officers, and have legal obligations to their members.

“I don’t think they should be dictated to by the president of an organisation who may have a personal agenda he’d like to see the Government do and, because the Government didn’t do it, he will boycott the march. I don’t think there’s anyone who would say the MoU has been totally fulfilled, and the Government is not running from that.

“You can argue that they have taken a long time, and that the election cycle is coming now, but I think it’s extreme to boycott the Labour Day march. You’re telling workers not to do something they’ve done for years. I totally disagree with it. This government has been union friendly. Fifty-five industrial agreements? Come on man. How could you make a decision like that?”

The National Congress of Trades Unions of The Bahamas (NCTUB), the rival umbrella union body to the TUC, in a statement issued yesterday confirmed that itself, together with all its affiliates and associations, will be marching on June 6 in the Labour Day parade.

Mr Beckford, meanwhile, challenged whether the TUC move was designed “to hurt the workers or hurt the administration”, while also querying whether it was supported by the body’s individual union affiliates and those in charge of them.

And Pia Glover-Rolle, minister of labour and the public service, in a video-recorded response to the TUC’s decision pledged that the Government and unions have “been working through the MoU line by line, issue by issue” to ensure it is fully implemented despite Mr Ferguson’s assertion to Tribune Business yesterday that just 18 percent, or four of the 22 commitments, have been met.

However, the minister added that “there are practical issues hindering fulfillment of some of the changes they are pushing for”. She added that the TUC’s demand for unionisation at private employers, citing the likes of Baha Mar and the Grand Lucayan, “is not something the Government can impose” but has to be driven by the workers themselves organising.

As for the call for “agency shop”, plus reforms such as redefining wages; increased redundancy pay; minimum rest periods; changes to multiple sections in the Employment Act; and empowering dispute conciliators, Mrs Glover-Rolle said these are “not solely a government decision” but have to be agreed at the National Tripartite Council - the body formed to address all Bahamian labour matters.

The minister and Mr Ferguson were in agreement that some MoU commitments, such as making union leaders and general secretaries justices of the peace (JPs), as well as a strengthened public defenders’ office and improved system of legal aid, have been enacted.

But, while issues such as the enforcement of the Health and Safety at Work Act are “under review”, Mrs Glover-Rolle warned that “some of the other demands are not under the control of government”. As an example, she said it cannot “dictate the composition of private pension Boards that the unions are seeking representation.

And the labour minister also pledged that the Government will not burden Bahamian taxpayers with the full $2m bill for renovating the House of Labour on Wulff Road - a key project of Mr Ferguson’s. “We have committed to assist, but unions collect dues and must have skin in the game,” Mrs Glover-Rolle said.

She also questioned whether Mr Ferguson’s concerns, and boycott call, “are rooted in principals” or if it was “just noise and grand standing”. Mrs Glover-Rolle also queried whether the TUC and its president were acting in good faith, noting that the last five industrial agreements signed by the Government this year were all with its affiliates.

And TUC representatives had also voiced approval with the outcome of the recent labour symposium, leading Mrs Glover-Rolle to ask: “What has changed between today and last week?” And, asserting that the Davis administration has implemented more labour-friendly reforms than several of its predecessors put together,  she added: “I  must ask: Where was this level of outrage when significantly less was being done in prior years?”