BAHAMA JOURNAL
22nd May 2007
Disunity In Labour Movement
By Bianca Symonette
For the first time in years the National Congress of Trade Unions and the Trade Union
Congress will be holding two separate Labour Day parades in New Providence.
NCTU Acting President John PinderAccording to the acting president of the NCTU John Pinder there has been no unity between the two umbrella trade unions and therefore both parties have made separate plans to host Labour Day festivities.
Mr. Pinder explained that affiliates under the NCTU had opted not to consult with executives of the TUC in planning the Labour Day festivities, due to legal action being filed against them by president of the TUC Obie Ferguson, who is also an attorney.
"A number of our affiliates are concerned that the TUC leader has legal action against at least five of them. They are not showing any level of unity," Mr. Pinder said.
He claimed that Mr. Ferguson billed persons for legal fees who were previously under the TUC, but switched to the NCTU. But he said no agreement had been made to pay for any legal services from Mr. Ferguson.
Mr. Pinder claimed that he was also slapped with legal action by Mr. Ferguson after he terminated the service of an employee.
"[My union] had a staff member who was on probation and at the end of the probationary period we decided not to keep her on as a permanent staff and therefore she went to Mr. Ferguson seeking legal advice and he in turn filed an action at the Industrial Tribunal without consulting me or contacting me to find out what transpired," Mr. Pinder said.
However, Mr. Ferguson said he did not know why there will be separate parades this year.
"I don’t know the reason and if I was to make a statement I would be misleading the public," Mr. Ferguson said.
On Monday, executives of the NCTU announced a week of events leading up to Labour Day.
The activities will commence on Sunday with a church service at Holy Family Catholic Church and will end with the annual Labour Day parade, rally and fair at the Workers House grounds on the Tonique Williams Darling Highway on Friday.
About two weeks ago, Mr. Ferguson outlined plans for the TUC’s Labour Day parade. Both trade union organizations will be starting at the same point, but the routes differ.
The NCTU’s parade is scheduled to leave Windsor Park at 8am and will travel west on Wulff Road to Blue Hill Road and South on Blue Hill to the Tonique Williams Darling Highway.
The TUC’s parade will start at WindsorPark at 8am and travel north on East Street onto Bay Street to Navy Lion Road. The parade will continue south on Navy Lion Road onto West Bay Street and end on Arawak Cay.
The TUC’s theme this year will be "Nation Building Through Workers in Parliament". The TUC also plans to have a fair at Arawak Cay.
But despite the disunity between the two trade union groups, both are still seeking to have Labour Day named in honour of the late Sir Randol Fawkes, who is widely hailed as the father of the labour movement.
NCTU Secretary General Robert Farquharson told reporters at a press conference on Monday that the NCTU executives will be meeting with the new Minister of Maritime Affairs and Labour Dion Foulkes to discuss whether this administration would be willing to agree to the name change.
According to Mr. Farquharson, the NCTU had pitched the idea to the previous administration, but nothing was ever done to formally name Labour Day in Sir Randol’s honour.
"The NCTU again calls on the government to take urgent and immediate steps to adopt a resolution in Parliament to change the name of Labour Day to the Sir Randol Fawkes Labour Day in memory and in tribute to the father of labour in The Bahamas, the late Sir Randol Fawkes," Mr. Farquharson said.
The NCTU will celebrate under the theme "Building Our Future" and will also honour the memory of its late president Pat Bain who passed away last year.