The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Public Services Union is heading into a leadership transition after nearly a decade under Kimsley Ferguson, with two rival teams promising to rebuild a sharply reduced membership, modernise the union and give members a greater role in how it is run.

Mr Ferguson, who has led the BPSU since 2017 and won three consecutive elections, is preparing to step down after his current term.

His final term followed the September 2023 election, whose results were certified in January 2024 after the government determined that identified irregularities were not serious enough to overturn the outcome.

The two teams now campaigning to succeed him — the United Workers Team led by Executive Vice President Craig Edward Bethel and the POWER Team led by Alexander Burrows Jr — have both made reversing the union’s membership decline a central part of their platforms.

Mr Bethel said the BPSU had about 7,000 members when he joined but now has barely 3,000.

“I think we need to take the focus away from us,” he said, “and the focus needs to be put back in the hands of the members.”

Mr Bethel is leading a 10-member slate and said his team would prioritise greater consultation with members, shared executive decision-making and improvements to the union’s administration.

He promoted the United Workers Team as an experienced and dependable option, with several candidates already serving on the BPSU executive, but said their experience had also exposed problems that needed to be corrected.

“The way in which the union is going, or has been going for the past six years, needs to change,” Mr Bethel said.

He said members should be consulted before the union enters negotiations and pledged that his team would meet workers in individual ministries and departments to identify their specific concerns rather than relying solely on a general public-service industrial agreement.

“This is very important,” he said, “because we all are also responsible for crafting industrial agreements for ministries and their departments, and we believe that the members themselves should have an integral part in the way that is done.”

Mr Bethel said his team was not convinced that sufficient consultation had occurred in recent years.

He acknowledged that salary increases were secured under Mr Ferguson’s leadership but argued that individual ministries and departments often have concerns that cannot be adequately addressed through a general agreement.

Mr Bethel cited finance officers seeking responsibility allowances when required to oversee additional areas as an example of an occupation-specific issue that should be pursued during negotiations.

He also criticised the concentration of decision-making within the union, arguing that longstanding leaders could become too comfortable and exclude other executives.

Mr Bethel said the BPSU should consider ideas from across its executive instead of allowing decisions to be dominated by one person.

He also alleged that the union’s constitution had not been followed during his time as an executive and called for it to be reviewed, describing it as too broad.

The United Workers Team is also proposing benefits beyond salary increases, including reduced airport parking fees for public servants travelling abroad.

Mr Bethel said the team would establish a membership database to track retirements, birthdays and anniversaries, allowing the union to recognise members more consistently without relying solely on public-service listings.

He also pledged to improve the administration of the BPSU office by ensuring it is properly staffed and operates efficiently.

Northern Region Vice President candidate Latoya Cartwright said modernising the union’s administrative systems would be another priority.

Ms Cartwright said the union continued to operate under an outdated system that contributed to delays when members sought loans or dealt with retirement-related matters.

“You know these young persons aren’t into this old back in the day thing,” she said. “So we want to reach them where the union will be more reachable, and more persons may want to join.”

She said proposed initiatives include a housing plan, regular general meetings and the use of platforms such as TikTok to engage members.

Mr Burrows, meanwhile, said rebuilding the BPSU’s membership and bargaining strength was also central to the POWER Team’s agenda.

POWER stands for “People Organizing With Effective Results”.

“We recognise that union is a numbers business,” Mr Burrows said. “It’s a numbers game.”

“What we basically are seeking to do is to bring the union back as it used to be,” he said.

Mr Burrows attributed much of the membership decline to competing unions recruiting entire agencies that had previously fallen under the BPSU.

He identified the Airport Authority and Nassau Airport Development Company as organisations the union had lost.

“We have other neighbouring unions that take advantage of that weakness and they go after our members,” Mr Burrows said.

“We’re talking about whole agencies that are being pulled away from the Public Services Union,” he said.

Mr Burrows acknowledged Mr Ferguson’s efforts to keep the union operating during his years as president but said the next administration would have to aggressively attract new members and strengthen the BPSU’s bargaining position.

The POWER Team is proposing a mobile application through which members could lodge grievances, access information and monitor the progress of their cases.

“The members should be able to track it and see exactly where their issue is,” Mr Burrows said.

He said the system would provide “true transparency and accountability from the union’s executive toward the member”.

The team’s 10-point “POWER Plan” also includes medical insurance, the reintroduction of membership cards and efforts to negotiate discounts at retail businesses, food stores and gas stations.

Mr Burrows said those measures were intended to make BPSU membership more beneficial and attractive.

The campaign is unfolding amid concerns about the election process and the eligibility of some prospective candidates.

The United Workers Team has raised questions about whether some prospective candidates meet the requirements to participate, although it has not identified those people publicly.

Mr Burrows maintained that he had taken care to select candidates who were financially compliant and in good standing with the BPSU.

“None of my candidates have ever been challenged,” he said, adding that no candidate he previously fielded had been disqualified under the union’s constitution.

Mr Burrows said each team would select three representatives to sit on a seven-member election committee.

Although no election date has yet been announced, he expressed confidence in the proposed process.

“I believe that the process will be as free and fair as possible,” he said.