Dozens of unionized workers of the Water and Sewerage Corporation protested in front of the corporation’s Thompson Boulevard headquarters on Tuesday, using a tractor and a truck to block the entrances to the building.
Protesting workers at the Water and Sewerage Corporation used this tractor to block the entrance of the Corporation’s Thompson Boulevard office on Tuesday.
The workers, who are members of the Bahamas Utilities Services and Allied Workers Union (BUSAWU), were protesting what they claimed were unresolved issues with management.
Union officials claimed that the corporation has not been granting them their pay increments reportedly due to be paid on the anniversary of each worker’s starting date with the corporation.
They also claimed that management has unnecessarily hired temporary workers and planned to hire more.
“We heard that this lobby [at the headquarters] was full of persons whom the Corporation intends to employ on a temporary basis or [as] contract workers,” Ms. Kemp said.
“We are saying that will not be tolerated any longer. If the corporation is seeking to overstaff this organization, we would not allow it-but we say today that we will not allow any more temporary workers in this place unless the union has been notified.”
Ms. Kemp said that Tuesday’s protest was not intended to last as long as it did, but her union was prepared to stand its ground until some resolution to the issues is reached.
As the protest dragged on, police were called in to remove the protestors from blocking the property, but some union members refused to be removed by police.
Some even threw themselves on the ground in front of vehicles blocking the entrances to the corporation.
Erold Donaldson, financial controller of the Water and Sewerage Corporation, said the protest had a major impact on the corporation’s daily operation
“Customers aren’t really having easy access for payment and workers haven’t been able to do much work (on the inside) because it has been that much of a distraction,” Mr. Donaldson said.
After nearly two hours of protest the corporation’s management called an emergency meeting with BUSAWU officials to address the union’s concerns. But before that meeting could get underway, a bomb scare forced the entire Water and Sewerage building to be evacuated.
Officials of the police bomb squad arrived on the scene and conducted a sweep of the building and deemed it safe.
The meeting eventually took place and according to Ms. Kemp, management and the union agreed to meet again on Wednesday to try to resolve the issues by Friday.
The corporation’s general manager, Abraham Butler, could not be reached for comment.
By: Stephen Gay, The Bahama Journal
