NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The emergence of a powerful new umbrella organization for unions poses “a serious problem” for the government, which must now decide who is the “voice of labour” in the country, according to former Labour Director John Pinder.
Pinder also said the formation of the new organization, the Bahamas National Alliance Trade Union Congress (BNATUC), is a blow to the hopes of those who want a more unified labour movement in the country.
Bahamas Union of Teachers President Belinda Wilson is the president of the organization, which announced its formation over the weekend. Kimsley Ferguson, head of the Bahamas Public Services Union, is the vice president.
Several unions and affiliates have joined or expressed a desire to join the new organization, breaking away from the National Congress of Trade Unions Bahamas (NCTUB) after expressing low confidence in NCTUB president Bernard Evans.
“Obviously you would observe that the NCTUB lost the majority of its members,” Pinder said Tuesday.
“They are holding on to the smaller unions. The three largest unions in that congress would have been the hotel union, the public service union and BUT. When you lose them you lose just over half of your membership.”
Pinder said the BNATUC joins the NCTUB and the Trade Union Congress as the third umbrella organization representing unions in the country.
“This won’t necessarily harm the labour union in that it could be like just another church,” he said. “But you got to show unity. If we don’t display unity then it’s different for others to unite. We should be the example of unity in the county. When we start to lose that then we start to lose relevance.”
Pinder said as a chief steward in the NCTUB earlier in his career, he helped fight for that organization to gain the recognition it received.
“We had the numbers,” he said.
“That caused us to be the official voice of labour in The Bahamas. That poses a problem now for the government. Who is the official voice of labour in The Bahamas? It can’t be the NCTUB anymore. And I don’t think it’s the TUC. I think it’s this new umbrella organization that will now challenge the government to become the official voice of labour.
Pinder continued: “We have hundreds of Baptist churches, but there’s only one Baptist convention. They plan the activities for the Baptist churches. It’s the same with the Anglican Diocese.
“The importance is that The Bahamas cannot sit at the ILO in a convention if they don’t have recognition from the workers and the government and the employer. So you have to identify who is that official voice. For years the government has been trying to alternate the organisations, carrying both the TUC and the NCTUB to meetings. They’ve been using one as an observer, the other as the official voice. Now they have a third umbrella, so how will they do it? The new organization has the majority of workers who are unionized.”
Pinder noted that regulations governing the National Tripartite Council address the inclusion of labour unions.
“What they do now is they allow three from TUC and three from NCTUB. What’s going to happen now? You only could have six representatives of the labour movement there,” Pinder said.
“The NIB board speaks to having representation from the labour movement on it. They normally go to the voice of labour, the NCTUB, to choose who their voice will be. Sometimes, just to bring a balance, they allow the NCTUB to appoint two and the trade congress to appoint one.”
Pinder added: “Now they have a third umbrella organization. So it will pose a serious problem based on ILO conventions, based on some policies and procedures that the government follows because a number of these boards call for union representation.”
