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Unions Support Campaign To Increase Oil Pay-Out

Less than a week after issuing a scathing criticism of the Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) and its plans to drill for oil in The Bahamas, the National Citizen’s Alliance Coalition (NCAC) has started a public education campaign, listing several unions as supporters of the effort.

The coalition is seeking to change the current agreement that BPC has with the government.

BPC has a sliding-scale agreement with the government under which it would pay out anywhere from 12.5 percent to 25 percent depending on how much oil is extracted each day.

According to a billboard erected on Nassau Street, the National Congress of Trade Unions Bahamas (NCTUB), the Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) and affiliates, the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU), the Pension Trust and the Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU) all support the effort.

BPSU President John Pinder said yesterday he fully supports the effort.

Pinder said the NCAC contacted him last year.

“I don’t think it’s too early because if you drop sleep one morning and you wake up overnight, all of a sudden you start hearing things are happening,” he said.

“I think the education process needs to come along.

“We need to know that the government is supporting its citizens on how the profits ought to be shared coming from oil, if any comes along.”

Pinder said he does not support the current agreement between BPC and the government.

However, when The Nassau Guardian contacted NCTUB President Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson yesterday, she said she wanted the umbrella union’s name removed.

“I don’t know how they (NCAC) could do that,” she said, “They are very presumptuous to put our name on a billboard. I’m sorry; we have not agreed to that.

“We have had several meetings with them. They have come and spoken to the NCTUB about their plans…but the NCTUB has never said that we are on board with what they are doing or that we agree to join what they are doing.

“We have never put that in writing or communicated that to them verbally.”

BCPOU President Bernard Evans declined to comment on the matter.

He appeared surprised when The Guardian told him that the BCPOU was listed as a supporter.

Calls to NCAC spokesperson Wesley Campbell were not returned up to press time.

By Travis Cartwright-Carroll
Guardian Staff Reporter

Posted in Headlines

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