This action alone, if nothing else, could cause them severe penalties ranging from fines to prison terms.
The union members have made their case, detailing how much money they are owed, why they are owed such amounts and over which period the money has accumulated. They added the emphasis last week by staging a massive demonstration outside the Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s Clifton Pier power plant. The union has been accused of but takes no blame for the many power cuts that have been plaguing New Providence since last Thursday and have now spread to the Family Islands.
Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson on Friday said she did not anticipate the union disobeying the court order to return to work, but still non-shift union members were directed not to return to work until Monday morning.
It is not necessary for the union to test the tolerance of the court. The matter has been referred to the Industrial Tribunal and until it has been disposed of, the union members should continue to go to work and to put out their best.
The Minister of Labour has declared that the union members have no “legal” rights to demand the $9 million in back pay for which they are asking, a view also held by arbitrator Bishop Neil Ellis who, nonetheless felt that from a moral perspective, some form of compensation should be made.
“We cannot give away public money simply because somebody is putting pressure on you,” Minister Shane Gibson told a radio audience on Sunday. “If you give them something now that they are not entitled to what do you think will happen next month?” he asked. “They will be back again,” he answered his own question.
And the minister is absolutely right if in fact the union members are not entitled to the remuneration for which they are asking. But the Industrial Tribunal to which Minister Gibson wisely referred the matter in an effort to avert the many disruptions in service that a prolonged industrial action could bring will decide that.
Shane Gibson is an elected politician and as such he is probably looking toward being reelected in the next general election, which is now on the forehead of all politicians, party stalwarts, and those people who are serious about voting. He may have to depend on those votes if he expects to be returned, in just a few short months, as a member of the House of Assembly.
However, as a minister of the government at this precise moment, Shane Gibson has a job to do now for all the people and that is the job that he must do. If he is not to be reelected because of doing the right thing, then so be it. The Bahamian people are hurting now and this is the time to ease their pain, not on the promises of after the elections.
The Nassau Guardian
