Approximately 50 angry middle managers from the Water and Sewerage Corporation walked off their jobs Thursday morning after a scheduled signing for a four-year industrial agreement was put on hold.
The group, led by president of the Middle-Managers Union, Sidney Campbell, went to Parliament Square where they were assured by Labour Minister, Vincent Peet, and Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt, that the Government would make every effort to resolve the matter.
Mr. Campbell said the signing was scheduled for 9.30 a.m. at the Ministry of Labour and that all parties involved were prepared to sign the contract except the Corporation’s chairman, Abraham Butler whom he accused of single-handedly undermining the signing.
He called for Mr. Butler’s removal.
“When we got in to work we received a message from the Human Resource person at the Water and Sewerage Corporation informing us that the chairman had held up the agreement because he wanted to go through some of the articles that were actually negotiated some five and 10 years ago. Our negotiations have been going on for the past two years,” Mr. Campbell said.
The contract which he spoke of is to cover the period between June 30, 2000 to July 1, 2004.
During a brief meeting with the men, Minister Peet gave his assurance that the government would deal with the matter expeditiously.
Minister Peet, who flew in from Grand Bahama to sign the contract, reported that an “unexpected glitch” had developed which had resulted in the signing delay. He failed to say exactly what the “glitch” was.
“I was advised an hour or so before the signing something had developed. The Minister of Works and I are working on this now. Obviously this is not what the Government wants to happen. The Minister of Works and I will resolve this today and bring this to some conclusion,” he said.
“You deserve your contract and we know that. I told you that long time and so obviously it will be resolved. I am sorry it took this kind of thing to happen but there has been a glitch and the glitch will be corrected,” Minister Peet added.
He however refused to comment on the union’s request for the dismissal of Mr. Butler as chairman.
Satisfied with the assurance, Mr. Campbell told the Guardian that the group was prepared to go back to work until the matter could be ironed out.
“I believe that something will happen, but we are not going to be waiting forever,” he said.
“I am very much disappointed that it took this long for us to get their attention. I never thought this would happen at this stage, especially when you have an agreement. If we did not have an agreement and we were negotiating I could understand this happening, but once you have had an agreement by both parties, then you don’t expect this kind of drawback,” he said, adding that “this is unnecessary. We could have been doing other things for the Corporation.”
He criticised Mr. Butler for his actions, stating that the union has lost all confidence in him.
” The signing is being held up by the gentleman who is supposed to be leading us, who wants us to go forward with him. Where the hell are we going to go with him if he doesn’t want to work with us?” Mr. Campbell demanded.
He went so far as to state that the union “will not talk with the man, we will not negotiate with him, and anything that comes up with him we will walk out on it.”
When the Guardian contacted, Mr. Campbell at his Water and Sewerage office shortly before 5 p.m., he stated that he had been asked to remain back until 7 p.m. He was optimistic that the contract would be signed at that time.
By Keva Lightbourne, The Nassau Guardianv
