The current administration of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union and former president Dr. Thomas Bastian are wedged in a verbal clash, trading criticisms about each other’s management records.
Dr. Bastian, who heads the ‘United We Stand Committee’ accused the present administration of grossly mismanaging the union. The committee intends to offer a new slate of candidates in the upcoming union elections.
Lashing out at the accusations he made on the Love 97 talk show Jones and Company on Sunday, Vice President Quebell Rolle said the former hotel chief’s attack on the current administration was spawned from bitterness and contempt.
Mr. Bastian has declared that he intends to run for president again. But, according to the hotel union’s current leadership he is no longer a member and as such is not qualified to do so.
On Sunday, Mr. Bastian called for a three-member independent commission to investigate the management of the union over the last six years and referred to the union’s $5 million loan which has drawn sharp criticisms from detractors.
The former union president, who was voted out of office in 2000, also accused the union of firing four of its executives who were believed to have leaked information about the loan, a charge which Mr. Rolle denied.
“Not one single executive has been fired by the union,” he said. “In fact the four executives he named as fired all participated in the voting to borrow the $5 million. They voted against it, the majority voted for it. That’s democracy.”
“There is no crime in borrowing money to continue to build and maintain the union,” he added.
Rationalizing his potential return to the leadership of the hotel union, Dr. Bastian said he cannot sit idly by and watch the union fall apart because hotel workers in the country would suffer.
The union has launched an aggressive public relations campaign against critics who have challenged how the union is being managed and have been critical of several of its leaders.
In its latest broadcast commercials, the current administration urged hotel union members against supporting the possible return of Dr. Bastian.
“Bastian was soundly defeated in 2000. He was totally rejected. He is still bitter. He still has some scores to settle but he can’t come in through the front door,” Mr. Rolle said.
Referring to the state in which he left the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union when he was voted out of office, Dr. Bastian claimed that the union had millions of dollars in cash. He also charged that the union was collecting $4 million annually.
“They wasted the money,” he claimed. “I understand they have no cash. That’s why they had to borrow the $5 million.”
But the current administration insisted to the contrary, claiming that it was forced to pump substantial sums of money into a bad investment made by Dr. Bastian – the Eleuthera property that was eventually shut down.
Since 2000, the current leadership claims that it has built two training centres, extended the day care and pre-school, maintained a high level of education and training programmes for its members and established a scholarship fund.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
