The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

OFFICIALS of the Bahamas Air Traffic Controllers Union (BATCU) said their course of action for the Easter holiday weekend would be determined by what the Department of Civil Aviation does today.

The union is involved in a standoff with the Department of Civil Aviation over outstanding holiday pay and there are fears the air traffic controllers will engage in industrial action this weekend as a result.

Union President Lashan Gray yesterday indicated that the union’s position on outstanding holiday payments remain unchanged. She said an emergency meeting could be called at some point today if workers aren’t compensated in full for holidays already worked.

According to Mrs Gray, following clashes between the union and Department of Civil Aviation in late 2014, both sides agreed that as of last December, all holiday wages would be paid within the month that they were earned.

She says that agreement quickly fell apart after the two groups left the negotiating table.

“The Department of Civil Aviation under the direct responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, and by extension the Bahamas government, has violated and continues to break the law with regards to how it compensates its workers their wages, withholding earned wages for extended periods, despite the previously mentioned legal maximum of one month,” she said.

“BATCU has not and cannot enter into an agreement for compensation of wages for overtime exceeding one month as such a position would be ultra vires as it is in contravention to the law and therefore cannot be enforced.”

Mrs Gray claimed the Department of Civil Aviation is trying to suggest to the public that her union is after money that they aren’t entitled to; she said the department’s handling of this matter is nothing short of a “flawed approach to employer, employee relations.”

Last week the Department of Civil Aviation urged the BATCU not to stage industrial action over outstanding holiday pay, insisting that the payments would be made in short order.

In a subsequent press release from the BATCU, Mrs Gray claimed that Civil Aviation continues not to compensate controllers for public holidays worked, despite their agreement.

She said: “They’re not paying their employees for holidays as they work them. That’s against the law. What message does that send to the private sector?”

“The (BATCU) has been more than accommodating, especially considering that it is the government that is both responsible for legislating and enforcing the very laws they continue to disregard.”

Union records indicate that employees are owed an estimated $51,000 in unpaid holiday wages.

That amount covers the Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Majority Rule Day holidays.

Friday marks the beginning of the Easter holiday season, which concludes with the Easter Monday holiday. It is also a peak travel time.