Recently this blessed island of ours have been beset by an avalanche of labour union agitations ranging from threat of work stoppage, sick-out, protest march, etc. While we fully recognize the rights of workers to agitate for better working conditions and greater security of their jobs. However, we are more concerned that giving the fragile nature of the current global economy and the volatile nature of tourism-driven economy, the union leaders may not be sending the right signal to foreign investors and our cherished visitors. They seem to be giving red signal to potential foreign investors that the Bahamas environment is not a healthy place for investment for want of harmonious industrial relations. Every day one Trade Union or the other is either threatening the government or the private sector. Industrial harmony is, no doubt, pivotal to the sustainable development of the Bahamas as a tourist and financial services destination .
We are quite aware that irrespective of the kind of economic or political system in any given state, whether free market or centrally-planned economy, industrial conflict is an inevitable concomitant in the context of the age-old historic struggle between the forces of capital and labour for control of the benefits of the system. The owners of the means of production as represented by the employers and industrialists will always endeavour to maximize their profits while the workers/employees will no doubt continue to agitate for improvement in their working conditions in the form of higher pay, more favourable terms of employment, etc. However there must be a strategic balance of these two conflicting interests so as to ensure industrial harmony in the overall interest of the economy and the nation.
The principles of egalitarianism which are central to western democratic conception have engendered the interest of workers in most state that lay claim to democratic and civilized standards. The intensification of industrial conflict in the Bahamas will not augur well for the Bahamian economy. We can imagine how a couple who has worked so hard for their money for some time and having decided to vacation in our beautiful island and arranged for a stay in one of the exotic hotels like Atlantis, Crystal Palace or Radisson, only to be met with “workers in the peek” of demonstration around the vacationing premises. It will definitely not be a good experience. It does not afford a relaxing atmosphere. Such couple may recount this ugly experience to their friends back home.
Industrial conflict refers to the state of disharmony and unrest between workers on the one hand and the employer (management or government ) on the other hand. Touching on such factors as conditions of service, share of profits, social welfare gains and the application of resources in the production process within any given economy or section thereof. While on the other hand, industrial harmony refers to the ideal state of peace wherein workers engaged in the production of goods and services and feel content with their lot and as a result are propelled to give the best of their talents and talent potentialities for the development and progress of the national economy or any section thereof.
The major fact of the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century was of course, the growth of mercantile and industrial capitalism. The key to the new capitalism was the systematic investment of accumulated wealth or capital for the purpose of producing goods which could be sold at a profit in the market place. The individual who set the economic activity in motion was called an entrepreneur. The workers work for their wages or salaries and the system will no doubt witness optimal performance – if both parties work conscientiously for their mutual interest and of course for the overriding interest of the estate which provided the context for such economic activity to take place.
In order for the Bahamas to remain a world-class tourist and financial services haven, especially in the emerging globalizing environment, the work force should not inordinately have recourse to such damaging withholding capacities as strike, partial work ban, work to rule action, go slow, boycott, sick out, sit-ins, withdrawal of cooperation, picketing etc. All the above are capable of undermining and dislocating our economic equilibrium and causing hardships to untold number of families.
It is not inconceivable that potential investors may be scared by frequent industrial disharmony plaguing the nature and be compelled to relocate to a more harmonious industrial environment. Let us not live under the presumption that inevitable consequences of the above scenario may not affect us adversely. We should be content with what we have, since as compared to other nations of the region and the world, the Bahamas is a paradise. Labor leaders must tone down their rhetoric and moderate their posturings and stance. They must bear in mind that God has been kind and beneficent to this country and that no condition is permanent. We also remind the employers to treat their workers with respect and ensure that workers grow with the business of the employers in an orderly development of industry. Lockouts should be minimally and justifiably invoked as a last resort. The government should also ensure that progressive universally-recognized standards are imposed on both parties – the employers and the workers and that they institutionalize more mediation and reconciliation mechanisms in addition to those already in place.
Although industrial conflict is an attribute of every economic activity, it is strongly suggested that the parties avoid threats and unilateral actions in dealing with industrial actions and genuinely engage in meaningful dialogue without preconditions. Union leaders should not use the workers to advance their own selfish interests or score cheap political goal in the name of false activism. The quest for maximum benefits out of investments made remain the objective of the investors and unnecessary, frequent industrial unrest, loss of production and valuable man-hours would not enhance the realization of the aforementioned goal; where this happens, higher levels of economic prosperity becomes equally an impossible goal to attain and the nation suffers.
By Clement Chigbo
Clement Chigbo is an international peace activist, barrister at law, Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Attorney at Law (pro hac vice) Turks and Caicos Island, Registered Associate of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas and currently a senior lecturer in Law at Success Training College, Nassau, Bahamas.
Mr. Chigbo’s column can be found regularly in The Bahama Journal
