The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE union representing Bahamas Power and Light workers said it has been assured by BPL’s executive management that several of their longstanding issues will soon be resolved after meetings were held between the two parties on Friday.

The union is upset about alleged poor working conditions on the Family Islands, unfair promotions and hiring practices among other things.

Last month, dozens of BPL staff walked off the job in a show of solidarity against executive management, warning officials at the time that they had 14 days to address outstanding problems or face its wrath.

Speaking to The Tribune on Friday, Bahamas Electrical Workers Union president Kyle Wilson said while some of their grievances have since been addressed, there are still a few outstanding matters.

He applauded the efforts of Works Minister Desmond Bannister – who has ministerial responsibility for BPL — for trying to resolve their problems but expressed disappointment in BPL’s chairman and other executives for not reaching out to respond to workers’ concerns.

He said: “Some of the issues (resolved) are mainly the increment issue that was an issue to be resolved and an issue concerning promotion of persons on the Family Islands so we were definitely able to sort one or two issues out.

“…Going in, I know it was going to take more than 14 days to resolve all of the issues but we wanted to get a commitment. I felt as if the process was a bit, I wouldn’t say slow but a lot of wrangling back and forth and we weren’t able to get all the issues on the table and so we still have a lot of issues looming,” Mr Wilson added.

“Members are still somewhat frustrated, and I understand their frustrations because we have been dealing with these issues a long time but I do applaud the PS (Permanent Secretary) Colebrooke and the DPM (Deputy Prime Minister). I had a meeting today (Friday) with the CEO who made some further commitments and hopefully, they would live up to the commitments that he would’ve made.”

Mr Wilson warned that if officials do not live up to their promises, the union could resort to more industrial action in the days ahead.

“From I became president, I have been trying to get a resolve to the issues and so you know, we’re responsible people and we don’t want the Bahamian public to suffer any because of the discourse between management and the union. It’s not fair to them that they have to be the victim of discourse,” the union president told this newspaper.

“We don’t want that, but you know unfortunately in every war, there’s casualties and we’re hoping that the company hears the union out and we’re also trying to get the contract resolved and so we’re hoping that the government is listening and the right persons are listening and would move swiftly to resolve these issues unless the union has to take further actions. We don’t want to go down that road. We wish not to go down that road but we’re ready to go down that road.”

Asked what sort of action could the union take, he replied: “Everything is on the table. It’s the court, it’s conciliatory and what I’m saying is it’s all forms of action and it can may and possibly will include industrial action if the union does not feel it’s being heard.”

Mr Wilson called for the Minnis administration to meet with unions across the country to hear their concerns, noting there is growing unrest in the workplace.

He said: “I understand that the entire membership of the (Trade Union Congress) TUC would’ve been filing trade disputes because it’s not just our union but it seems to be all unions across the Bahamas are frustrated that we’ve been ignored over the past four years and so there may be a collaborative effort amongst unions and this is an issue that I’ve been preaching to the corporation, ‘hey, let’s get ahead of this things, let’s not wait until it’s too late’ and I’ve been preaching to deaf ears but I’m trying to conciliate and continue to knock at the door of the DPM.”

On Friday, Mr Wilson also addressed social media reports that several BPL offices were ordered shut down due to COVID-19 exposure.

He said: “I visited the headquarters and I met some staff sitting on the outside building. I enquired and they said that the company had brought in persons for deep sanitisation process and it’s been understood that someone may have come into contact with a person that maybe COVID positive and on the side of caution, they would’ve asked persons just to vacate the area. I understand it was someone who may have been between the mall (location) and headquarters so the mall is closed as well as the main office.”

On Friday, BPL issued a notice advising customers that its cashier services at the Blue Hill Road headquarters and Mall at Marathon location would be closed for the rest of the day. BPL said regular operations would resume as soon as possible, but did not provide a reason for the service interruption.