The government has until today to respond to the Bahamas Public Service Union’s concerns regarding the Gaming Board, or the union will shut down the casino industry in the Bahamas.
John Pinder, president of the B-PSU, led Gaming Board employees in a protest after negotiations for a new industrial agreement reached a stalemate last week.
He told The Tribune yesterday that if government does not respond, “We will pull all of our inspectors out of the casinos – and without the inspectors, the casinos cannot function.”
According to Mr Pinder the government had proposed a $.6 million contract over a five-year period for the 100 Gaming Board employees stationed in New Providence, Grand Bahama and Exuma.
However, Mr Pinder said that Gaming Board employees wanted the government to grant them a similar contract to the one agreed for ZNS employees, who will get a $3,500 lump sum payment over a three-year period.
Mr Pinder claimed that this was not a lot of money considering that the Ruffin Group and the Isle of Capri allegedly owed government millions of dollars m back taxes.
He claimed that if the government collected the owed money, it would be easy for them to pay employees their increases without having to dip into the public treasury.
Yesterday, Mr Pinder said that he has had no feedback since last week’s protest. “I was supposed to hear from them today (Monday) but I haven’t. I expect to hear from them in short order and if not we will just do what we have to do.”
By CARA BRENNEN, Tribune Staff Reporter
