The Tribune

IT didn’t take long for the house of cards that was the PLP deal with unions to come tumbling down.

In this column yesterday, we expressed caution about the trumpeting of a so-called “historic” deal that didn’t have any financial figures attached and didn’t have the ratification of the PLP’s leadership council.

It turns out a whole bunch of unions didn’t even know about the deal.

Nine affiliates of the National Congress of Trade Unions yesterday took its president, Bernard Evans, to task, saying they were not involved with the signing of the memorandum of understanding, had never seen the document and were not even aware of the contents of the pact.

How many people is that? Well, that’s the Airport, Airline and Allied Workers Union, the Bahamas Airline Pilots Association, the Bahamas Commercial Stores and Warehouse union, the Bahamas Financial Services Union, the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union, the Bahamas Public Services Union, the Bahamas Union of Teachers, the Union of Public Officers and, if the aggrieved union members want to make a song and dance about the matter, the Bahamas Musician and Entertainers Union.

That’s thousands of people that, without consultation, just had their names put down as PLP supporters. A statement from the upset unions said: “We refuse to stand idly by and allow our members to be used as pawns.”

Belinda Wilson, president of the BUT, went further, suggesting the involvement of Mr Evans was a “personal agenda”, and saying: “If he wants to push a personal agenda, he will not push a personal agenda on the unions, on our backs, he can push his personal agenda by himself.”

The PLP, meanwhile, so enthusiastic after the signing, was suddenly not so bold.

Party chairman Fred Mitchell said it was not the party’s place to comment on the union’s internal issues.

One of the talking points for the PLP about the FNM’s term in office has been the Oban fiasco. The FNM is rightly criticised for that, and in June, PLP deputy leader Chester Cooper was pointing out in the House of Assembly that there had never been an adequate explanation.

On the face of it, the Oban deal looked rather like trying to get good headlines over a deal that hadn’t been properly researched and where the due diligence on the people involved had not been adequately completed. It was The Tribune that poked holes in the background of the deal, and that was compounded with questions over who signed what at the ceremonial signing.

Is this matter with the PLP so much different? Mr Mitchell might say it’s not up to the PLP to talk about internal union issues, but your due diligence should ensure that the deal has been adequately checked with all the relevant parties. Did no one even ask if all the unions involved had consented?

The PLP was keen for the publicity – it was a picture supplied by the PLP that was published in the media afterwards. But did they really check the details of the deal? And if they didn’t, is that an indication of how they will govern if they win the election?

It is in some ways even worse – this deal threw the support of thousands of Bahamians behind the PLP without even asking them, without those Bahamians even having seen the document.

This has the air of something that has been rushed through for political reasons – and whatever the contents of the memorandum, that’s not truly looking after the interests of Bahamian workers, that’s looking after the political fortunes of those hoping to be elected in the coming weeks.

Whatever party might try to do so, don’t let anyone take your vote for granted.