The Tribune

BY ANNELIA NIXON

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

CLIFTON Heritage Park employees remain without a completed industrial agreement more than two months after negotiations stalled with union representatives warning a communication breakdown could trigger escalate workplace tensions.

Sherry Benjamin, president of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU), said negotiations were halted after concerns were raised by Clifton Heritage staff about management.

“We were at the table negotiating the contract, then the negotiations were halted due to some concerns allegedly raised by members of staff at Clifton concerning the management of Clifton,” Ms Benjamin said. “Those concerns have caused a stall in the negotiation process. We have yet to get back to the table. That’s been over two months now.”

The dispute has since been compounded by a change in leadership at the Clifton Heritage Authority. Ms Benjamin said the Authority has since failed to engage directly with the union.

She added that when the BCPOU reached out to the new chair, it did not receive a response about a courtesy call or meeting. Ms Benjamin said she was instead contacted by their assistant and asked to submit the union’s concerns through her for review and subsequent forwarding to the chair.

“I don’t know if that’s how she thinks this relationship is going to work but, as far as we’re concerned, we’re not going to tolerate that,” Ms Benjamin said. “We’re not going to stand for that.” 

The union president also raised concerns about management allegedly attempting to meet directly with employees and union officers on the ground while negotiations over an industrial agreement remain unresolved. “They haven’t met with the senior leadership of the union yet, but they want to call a meeting with our officers on the ground,” she said.

Ms Benjamin said the union understood that management was also seeking individual meetings with members potentially involving discussions about salary increases. She stressed that the BCPOU was formally recognised as the bargaining agent for Clifton Heritage Authority employees following a determination by Pia Glover-Rolle, minister of labour, in December 2025.

“We are the duly recognised bargaining agents for all staff at Clifton Heritage,” she said. Beyond the breakdown in labour and management relations, Ms Benjamin outlined a series of workplace concerns she said have remained unresolved for months.

She said prolonged power outages at Clifton Heritage Park have created safety concerns, particularly for employees working during evening hours when inadequate lighting becomes an issue. The outages also affect bathroom facilities because they depend on an electrically-powered pump.

While management has provided a small stand-by generator, Ms Benjamin said employees must continually supply it with fuel during extended outages. She said lighting installed at the site is also inadequate and poorly positioned.

“Recently, the power has been out for three or four days at a time out there at Clifton Heritage, and it honestly is becoming frustrating,” Ms Benjamin said. She said the union has also been pressing management for basic workplace safety supplies, including first-aid kits and personal protective equipment (PPE).

“For months, we’ve been asking them to provide safety equipment for the staff, as simple as first aid kits; to refill the first aid kits,” she said. “And they can’t get the basic amenities to carry out their duties.”

Ms Benjamin said the union had repeatedly been told the requested supplies were on order, but claimed some items had remained outstanding for about six months. The union is also challenging what it describes as disparities between employees’ actual salaries and the starting points on their respective bargaining-unit salary scales.

“You have staff who are in a certain bargaining unit, and the starting salary for that bargaining unit is far more than what the staff is actually making,” Ms Benjamin said. She argued that employees should not be earning below the minimum stated for their job classification.

The BCPOU subsequently wrote to the minister responsible for Clifton Heritage Authority, Leslia Miller-Brice, seeking government intervention before the dispute escalates further. Ms Benjamin initially warned that the union would take whatever steps were necessary to force management back to the table if its concerns continued to go unanswered.

However, she later told Tribune Business the intervention has already produced a breakthrough. Ms Benjamin said Mrs Miller-Brice agreed to convene a meeting for today involving the relevant parties to address the union’s concerns.

“She responded graciously, and we had a conversation with her,” Ms Benjamin said. “And she has agreed to convene a meeting on Monday to resolve all of the issues that we are having with them. She’s going to have all the players in the room to make sure that they understand the union’s position at Clifton, and that they respect our position there and co-operate with us.”

Ms Benjamin said she was encouraged by the minister’s immediate response and was prepared to give her an opportunity to resolve the dispute. “First thing on her agenda,” she said, describing the planned intervention. Ms Benjamin said she believes Mrs Miller-Brice’s intervention also prompted a call from the Clifton Heritage Authority chair.