Union general secretary Leo Douglas said over the weekend that the parties were scheduled to attend a conciliation meeting at the Ministry of Labour on Friday, but Yacht Club officials refused to participate in the meeting.
“To me it seems as if (the Minister of Labour Vincent Peet and the Department of Labour) are helpless and I continue to say that instead of the government or the Minister giving directives to the employer it seems as if the employer is giving directives to the Minister and the labour department, said Mr. Douglas in an interview with The Bahama Journal on Saturday.
He continued, “I was very surprised to see the Yacht Club representatives who went to the conciliation meeting come out point blank and question the Director of Labour on whether he had any right to have them there.
According to Mr. Douglas, the negotiators for the Nassau Yacht Club said they would confer with their attorney and respond to the Department of Labour by Tuesday on whether they would participate in the conciliation process.
When contacted over the weekend, a Nassau Yacht Club manager said he would not be able to make any comment about the industrial dispute.
The hotel union general secretary, meanwhile, said much of the confusion that has resulted in the stalled negotiation process is based on whether the dispute between the Yacht Club and the BHCAAWU remains officially active.
According to Mr. Douglas, Yacht Club officials have taken the position that they are no longer required to negotiate with the hotel union because they have terminated the 11 employees who were members of the union.
The union official asserted that while none of the remaining employees is a member of the BHCAAWU the union retains recognition as the bargaining agent for Nassau Yacht Club workers, and employer representatives should continue to negotiate in good faith.
Mr. Douglas also took the opportunity to respond to claims reportedly made by some Yacht Club members that they were assaulted by disgruntled employees of the club who allegedly directed racial slurs at them.
“We have never known anything about any racial slur, he said.
“The remark was probably made in regard to a foreign manager coming to this country and firing Bahamians, while foreigners are still working. So as far as I am concerned if they want to call that a racial slur that’s their business. We will continue to say that because we don’t believe any foreigner should come into this country and have a job while the Bahamians were put out on the street.
At least one Yacht Club member was to have filed a complaint with the police about the reported verbal attack and a physical assault.
The Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union general secretary also reiterated complaints against the Minister of Labour regarding the manner in which he handled the disagreement between Yacht Club management and the union.
“The dispute was filed (two Fridays ago) by president (Pat) Bain. The next thing the Ministry of Labour should have done was to send us a summons for us to appear together with the Yacht Club managers for the dispute to be heard,’ said Mr. Douglas. “That’s the procedure under the Industrial Relations Act.
“That did not happen. The Minister never met and the Ministry of Labour never conciliated anything so we are at a stage where (the Minister) was premature in sending the matter to the Industrial Tribunal. We said he did wrong and it was wrong for him to do that because as far as we are concerned there is nothing legally before the Tribunal at this time with regard to that dispute, said Mr. Douglas.
But Minister Peet has said that he met with both sides in the dispute and neither was prepared to compromise, leaving him no other choice but to forward the matter to the Industrial Tribunal.
From: The Bahama Journal
