Apprising the public of the TUC’s plans for 2004 during a news conference held at the organisation’s Wulff Road and Minnie Street headquarters yesterday, President Obie Ferguson said the Industrial Tribunal is not fulfilling its function of assisting to bring resolution to industrial disputes in the country.
“The Bahamas Industrial Tribunal is not functioning. The Bahamas Industrial Tribunal is not functioning,” said Mr. Ferguson.
“The Tribunal is not doing the job it’s supposed to do. The original idea was that it was supposed to be a court where you did not need lawyers, but now the average man can’t get there because some high-powered lawyer from the other side goes there and raises all kinds of technical points and the poor little man can’t get justice,” he said.
Noting other concerns that the TUC hopes to address in 2004, Mr. Ferguson called on the government to pass into law International Labour Organisation protocols, which were agreed to by the Free National Movement administration almost three years ago.
“In June of 2001 the FNM government ratified ILO Convention 87, but the requirement is that after 18 months of ratification and registration those provisions ought to be made law,” the TUC president said.
He continued, “We would want the government of The Bahamas this year to seriously look at the ILO Convention 87. That convention is a critical convention for the labour movement in The Bahamas and it is fundamental to the success and the growth of the labour movement.”
He pointed out that ILO Convention 87 grants workers powers like the freedom of association, the right to form unions and the right to define those organizations’ regulations.
Addressing the wave of industrial unrest facing the country, Mr. Ferguson said the TUC is in favour of programmes that promote improved relations among workers, employers and the government.
“We will work with the government of the day and the employers’ to make sure that we have a protocol similar to that which exists in Barbados,” said Mr. Ferguson.
“When they have a trade dispute they have a protocol to settle it,” he said, with the resolution process being agreed to by the three social parties.
Mr. Ferguson also pointed out that an item, which will appear high on the TUC’s agenda this year, is a push to bring conclusion to negotiations for a number of new industrial agreements.
Industrial contracts for air traffic controllers, the nurses union, casino workers at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, Pepsi Cola (Bahamas), Morton Salt and the National Insurance Board will all be targeted, according to the president.
Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
