If the law needs changing, this can be done lawfully. This is how it should be in a civilized society. Anything else must be condemned.
This Friday past was a particularly bad day for those Bahamians who had hoped that labour leaders and their sympathisers had at last been brought to their senses. While our primary reference is to any number of terribly ugly scenes on the grounds and in the main offices of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, concern might also be given to other times and occasions when labour lost its cool, and where it became unruly and ugly.
Bahamians who decry bullying tactics on the part of labour, make the point that these are unnecessary in this day and age. Even as we note the views of those who decry so-called ‘bullying tactics’, we note also some of the specifics in the matter involving the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union.
Reference is also made to some of the tactics, antics and shenanigans of certain trade union leaders, affiliated with the National Congress of Trade Unions. The point we make in this regard is that the leadership of all of these unions stand condemned for their unruly and possibly illegal activity, when they stormed in and took over the execuitive offices of BEC on Friday past. There is no way under the sun for us to either countenance or condone anyone taking the law into their hands. This is the sure route to anarchy and chaos.
Paradoxically, the road to this sad conclusion is being paved by a police force which seems either unprepared or unwilling to do it’s job, without fear or favour. When, for example, the police would have apprehended that there might have been mob and mass action at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, they should have made adequate preparation to meet and fend off assault to personnel and property.
And, here again, is our apprehension that the police have tacitly accepted the conclusion that labour leaders and their followers should be given license to act with impunity. This is precisely what has been happening in The Bahamas for as long as we can remember. Behaviours which are deemed illegal are being treated as if they were perfectly fine. Whether ‘illegality’ involves roadside vendors or criminal trespass, there seems to be room for giving these ‘wrongful’ actions an approving nod and a wicked wink.
When we turn to the matter involving labour and the tactics it employs, we see many labour leaders who celebrate rebellion. Indeed, events like the Burma Road Riots, the 1958 General Strike and the Black Tuesday event of 1965 have all assumed the power of myth in the minds of many people. These are so revered, that they are routinely trotted out to show how far the country has come in the industrial relations realm.
The problem here turns on the extent to which labour leaders and their followers have forgotten – or never knew – the real deal. That ‘deal’ involves the extent to which union leadership is living in the past, and therefore oblivious to some of the achievements of labour itself. Nobody in his right mind can successfully refute the proposition that labour in the forties, fifties and sixties had a major role of fill, and it did.
No major developments in the Bahamas, inclusive of Majority Rule and Independence, could come off without the strong support of labour. We also surmise that any major political party, which even dreams about winning, could ever do so without the focused support of labour. So, fully cognisant of the complex role labour plays in a country like The Bahamas, we make the observation that this should not preclude government searching for a way to be ‘both firm and flexible’ with the labour movement in the Bahamas.
There are the laws on the books which, within limits, protect and defend the rights of all Bahamians. Even where these are not in place, the means are there to give effect to the wishes of the people, inclusive of those who sell their labour. As a consequence, therefore, of this reasoning and our certain knowledge of Bahamian social history, we are quite persuaded that Bahamian workers can get justice if they work within the four corners of the law. Indeed, as a living organism, the law itself can be changed to give effect to the wishes of all Bahamians.
Editorial, The bBhama Journal
