While the majority of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation managers returned to work, the threat of a strike vote still looms over the government-owned entity if executives fail to meet with the union to negotiate a new industrial agreement.
Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union (BEUMU) president Irvin Dean said the employees returned to work in good faith but the strike vote planned for Wednesday, February 16, had not been taken off the table.
“This is our way of extending the olive branch again as we have done many times over the past four to five years,” Dean said.
He said approximately 90 percent of the 100-plus middle managers showed up for work on Friday after calling in sick the day before.
Dean said the managers’ return to work was the result of an informal discussion with an official on Thursday night.
“All we are simply doing is asking BEC to comply with the law and the industrial agreement. If we can get this resolved then we would not even have a strike vote. It is sad that we got to the point where we have to go to this extreme. That is all,” Dean said.
