Published On:Thursday, July 15, 2010

By NOELLE NICOLLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

nnicolls@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Hotel Maintenance and Allied Workers Union (BHMAWU) is headed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to present arguments they hope will settle all questions about the legitimacy of their union.

The union was not only successful at securing an extension from the Privy Council, after surpassing the stipulated 21-day period for appeal, but were also successful in gaining leave to present arguments to the Privy Council.

"The only time they allow arguments to be presented on a late application is when you have a serious enough matter that they want to hear. In a way we have been blessed by being late. They want to hear our case," said attorney Keod Smith, legal counsel for the BHMAWU, along with Obie Ferguson, president of the Trade Union Council (TUC).

The Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) is the first respondent in the case; West Bay Management Limited, operators of Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort and Spa, is the second respondent and the Attorney General is the third respondent.

The dispute between the parties is long-standing. The BHCAWU and the BHMAWU have been battling since 2006 over which union should represent non-managerial staff from Sandals.

The registrar of trade unions issued a certificate of registration to the BHMAWU in November 2001. The basis of the court challenge is the fact that the BHMAWU's registration was never gazetted. On this basis, and after years of legal wrangling, the Court of Appeal ruled in January 2010 that the BHMAWU's registration was void.

Mr Ferguson said yesterday that unions should not be made victims of the "laggard behaviour" of civil servants who failed to carry out their duties.

"We are going to argue that failure to gazette does not render a union void. If the majority ruling is allowed to stand as is, effectively it would mean that a number of unions would be operating illegally (including the BHCAWU)," said Mr Ferguson.

"Our recommendation was to implement an Industrial Relations Validation Act that would have cured the defect," said Mr Ferguson.

The reason the Maintenance Union was late in appealing to the Privy Council was because they were waiting on Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes and Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham to respond to recommendations, the BHMAWU said.

According to Mr Ferguson, the union's legal team received a letter from the Privy Council on July 6, stating that "the appeal panel of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which was made up of Lord Seville and Lord Clarke and Sir John Dyson granted the application for leave to appeal to the Privy Council, having considered the application for permission to appeal from a judgment of the Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas dated January 26, 2010."

A date still has to be set to present arguments.

n SEE TRIBUNE BUSINESS FOR MORE INFORMATION