BAHAMA JOURNAL
9th May 2006
COB Strike Vote Averted
By Erica Wells
A planned strike vote by members of the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas was averted yesterday, at least for the time being, after a trade union mediator stepped in to help resolve the two outstanding issues creating tension between UTEB and the College of The Bahamas Council.
That strike vote, which was scheduled to take place on Monday, has been put off in hopes that UTEB officials and COB's Council will reach an agreement over the completion and signing of an industrial agreement and the selection of a new president for COB.
The two issues have been the latest in a series of controversies to plague the college over the years, but UTEB president Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson is hoping that both parties will find common ground by the end of the week.
"We are trying to resolve things so they don't have to get to the point of taking a strike vote," Mrs. Isaacs-Dotson told The Bahama Journal yesterday.
"Robert Farquharson, who is the president of the [Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union], is mediating between the union and COB. He met with both parties last week and is arranging a meeting for this week, so I am hoping that everything will be resolved this week."
However, it is understood that UTEB will proceed with the strike vote if the issues are not resolved.
UTEB officials are especially eager to sign an industrial agreement, given that negotiations for a new contract have been ongoing for more than two years.
"After two-and-a-half years we shouldn't have to be at this point where it is right now," said Mrs. Isaacs-Dotson. "That really left a bad taste in the faculty's mouth. The Cabinet and the Council should have been abreast of what was happening in the negotiations."
The protracted negotiations came to a head last month, when UTEB filed a labour dispute with the government and decided to take a strike vote if its demands were not met.
It also followed the union's protest over the council's selection process for a new president for the college.
It was at this point that Prime Minister Perry Christie requested that the National
Congress of Trade Unions intervene in the negotiations, in a move to ease tensions between the two parties.
Mr. Farquharson, who is also Secretary General of the NCTU, said that the two meetings held last week were "very, very fruitful."
"Things are going extremely well," Mr. Farquharson told The Journal yesterday. "We have to meet again sometime this week."
Mr. Farquharson refused to comment further on the ongoing talks, other than to point out that "things are going well."
He also did not want to comment on a time frame that the matter might be resolved, but said he expected them to be resolved "very, very quickly."
In the meantime, Mrs. Isaacs-Dotson says UTEB has not changed its position as it relates to the selection of a new president for the college.
Union leaders say they are unable to unequivocally state that Canadian academic Janyne Hodder is suitable to hold the position as president, claiming that members were denied the opportunity to interview Ms. Hodder and had to obtain her credentials from the Internet.
The union says that it wants the Council to allow members to interview Ms. Hodder, given that it was allowed to interview the other presidential candidates - Acting President Rhonda Chipman-Johnson and Dr. Pandora Johnson.
UTEB is reportedly the only stakeholder objecting to Ms. Hodder's appointment.
It is widely speculated that Ms. Hodder will take up the post of COB president in time for the new academic year.