The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

This letter is penned in honour of Pat Bain, a former President of the National Congress of Trade Unions and of the Bahamas Hotel Catering & Allied Workers Union (BHCA WU), who, had he lived, would be celebrating his birthday today.

The question is why in his honour?

Pat Bain, despite our many disagreements while dealing with hotel industry issues, was a committed believer in nation building.

We placed a number of important national issues under scrutiny, and the one that we focused on steadfastly was the apparent ineffective education system, particularly in the public schools. We came to this realisation through broad discussions with industry partners about the serious difficulties in recruiting staff; the level of illiteracy was appalling.

So we decided that we should do some research, as scientifically as possible, on the condition of education and to make recommendations for reform.

For this undertaking, we formed a coalition comprising the Bahamas Hotel Catering & Allied Workers Union, National Congress of Trade Unions, Bahamas Hotel Employers' Association, Bahamas Employers Confederation, Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, Bahamas Hotel Association, Nassau Down Town Development Association – to this day too few people understand the extent to which history was being made. Unions and Employers joined together to produce a compelling report – "Bahamian Youth: The Untapped Resource", which was officially released in July 2005.

We invested substantially in the preparation of this report. We circulated the report widely; we made presentations to Civic Clubs, Member Associations, and to Government, where we thought we could obtain substantial support. The Report was also made available on the internet.

The Report was updated in 2007 and, unquestionably, the Report is still relevant.

I cannot help but feel extreme disappointment with what was largely an indifference to the content of the Report.

Quite frankly, I am still irked that what we had done through the Coalition was historic, and which has been, for all intent, ignored. In all likelihood, such a partnership will not be repeated.

What I am conveying right now is that the leadership of our country had within easy reach a foundation consisting of partners, irrespective of political affiliation, on which we could have crafted real reform in education for the benefit of all citizens.

I salute Pat Bain for being a fearless leader who galvanised the unions into a united group to effectively fight alongside employers for change.

Let's remember Pat Bain for his faith in Bahamians and the greater good for the Bahamas.

J BARRIE FARRINGTON, CBE

Nassau,

August, 2012.

P.S. The Report can still be viewed on Bahamas Hotel Association website (www.bhahotels.com)