The Bahamas ranks seventh in the world as the country that relies mostly on tourism to provide the bulk of employment for its workforce.
The World Travel and Tourism Council’s 2005 country report said that some 68.7 per cent of the Bahamas’ workforce, or 115,900 jobs, rely directly on tourism.
The WTTC report projected that this reliance will increase over the next 10 years with tourism becoming responsible for 145,293 jobs or 70.1 per cent of the Bahamas’ total employment by 2015. The direct and indirect impact from the Bahamas’ travel industry will account for 54.7 per cent of this nation’s total GDP this year.
Without tourism the Bahamas would collapse.
And so we were shocked to switch on the television last Thursday evening to see John Pinder, president of the Bahamas Public Service Union, bellowing into ZNS cameras, and threatening that he and a handful of placard-carrying union members from the Gaming Board would shut off the lifeblood of this industry if they did not get the contract they demanded.
“We will pull all of our inspectors out of the casinos,” Mr Pinder threatened, adding the obvious that “without the inspectors, the casinos cannot function.”
Although Mr Pinder said he represented 100 Gaming Board workers, the demonstrators, as shown on camera, didn’t seem to be more than half a dozen persons. The numbers really don’t matter, be they six or 100. What does matter, however, is that a small group of people – a minuscule .09 per cent of tourism’s workforce – with loud-mouthed bullying tactics believe they have the right to jeopardise the jobs of 115,999 Bahamians. This number accounts only for those who are directly employed in the industry. Outside of that number almost every business in this country – from the artisan and shopkeeper to the lawyer and head of industry – would be badly hurt if such a walkout had a ripple down effect.
Tourism, at the best of times a fickle industry, has become so vital to the Bahamas that it should be considered an essential service, and as such, strikes, go-slows and anything that would impede its progress; should not be tolerated.
The Bahamas Employers Federation has suggested that the Trade Union and Labour Relations Bill be enacted to stop disruptions and other negative behaviour used by unions during negotiations. This Bill was shelved by the Ingraham government.
It should be dusted off in a hurry, because substantial restrictions on what action union officials can legally engage in and what constitutes a legal dispute should not only be clear, but enforced.
Politicians have always pandered to unionists – afraid of losing their precious vote – and over the years unionists have used strong tactics to take advantage. The late Sir Lynden Pindling could always placate the unions. That is why they agitated until they drew him to the negotiating table. The sarcastic joke at the time was that he would push a blank sheet of paper across the table, and invite them to write their terms. It was claimed they always came away the victors. Whether this is true in every detail is debatable, but it is indicative of the spirit of the times. That is why some industrial agreements are out of line with today’s reality, and unionists think they have a right to get whatever they demand.
Hence Mr Pinder could tell the press that if government collected all casino taxes owed, it could pay all union demands across the board and have something left over. They seem to forget that these revenues are not there for their picking, but have to be used to maintain the country’s infrastructure, build and repair schools, maintain the prisons and the juvenile reform centres, raise the standard of the health service, protect our borders and many other obligations that require large sums of money.
Mr Pinder must remember that the Bahamian work force is not just toiling to maintain the civil service.
It was more than 70 years ago when American-born George Murphy, a member of the House of Assembly and owner of the once popular Montagu Beach Hotel, told Sir Etienne Dupuch, the late publisher of this newspaper, that the day unions got into the hotels that would be the end of tourism. New Providence has grown rapidly from the three hotel town of George Murphy to the Bahamas’ number one industry employing most of the country’s workforce.
Unions, with the economy now threatened by the oil crisis, should be realistic and start to behave responsibly. The Bahamas, a small country, can only afford so much.
Editorial from The Tribune, Nassau Bahamas
