The Tribune

By Morgan Adderley

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

AMANCHA Williams has been reinstated as the president of the Bahamas Nurses Union, according to the unofficial results of the union’s elections which were held yesterday.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday evening, Ms Williams expressed her gratitude to the country’s nurses for their confidence in her executive board. Up to press time last night, Ms Williams said the results from Princess Margaret Hospital, Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre, South Beach Clinic, and Grand Bahama voting centres had been sent in.

“I feel great,” she said. “I feel wonderful. I am grateful that all the nurses in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas have spoken. And we are here to serve as a union. Not for what we can get. But we are here to serve the workers of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. And once you have done that and you have done that honestly, and you are the people that the people can trust, they will always vote you in. And that’s what we stand for. We stand for transparency, honesty, and we will continue to work hard for the future goals of this profession called nursing.

“And we’re not deterred by the government. We’re not deterred by administration. We are here to do a fair job and that is to serve the workers. And that’s what this executive team will continue to do.”

Ms Williams said her board’s goals for this term include implementing a pension plan, getting educational grants for nurses to continue their education, and building a new nursing facility that will include a hospice and a section for nursing students.

When asked if she foresees herself using the union’s strike vote, Ms Williams replied: “We will sit down and strategically plan what we are going to do. Because we asked our government in this same…period of the budget to give us a raise.”

Pointing to a figure of a 15 percent increase, Ms Williams said this is what the union is waiting on Health Minister Dr Duane Sands to present in Cabinet.

“Because we have yet to see what the government, the (Free National Movement) government, has done for the nurses. Not according to our industrial agreement, but according to what their plans are for the profession in order to retain and to recruit our nurses in the Bahamas.”

Former BNU President Jannah Khalfani had entered the race hoping to return to the helm of the union, however she was unsuccessful.