BahamasPublicServiceUnion

In an address to public workers, Prime Minister Philip Davis delivered a pointed message–saying he doesn’t “believe in cussing and carrying on,” but in “partnership and finding solutions,” – a slight at union leaders of the Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU) and the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT), Kimsley Ferguson and Belinda Wilson, who threatened another protest over the delayed salary increase.

Speaking during a national address on Tuesday night, Davis bypassed the union leaders whom he had promised a meeting, and said he was speaking directly to public workers as tension rises.

“I will not sit in rooms where respect is not mutual. Real progress happens when grown men and women sit down and reason with each other,” Davis said.

While reiterating his respect for unions, Davis said, “Fights get us nowhere. We need progress and respect. We achieve nothing by thrashing words in the press.” He continued, “Cussing and carrying on don’t work for ‘Brave.’ We are adults and  we must act like it.”

The big picture

This comes after Ferguson and Wilson met with Davis on Monday as promised, following a heated protest last Wednesday over the delayed salary increase to December instead of September.

During Monday’s meeting, the pair and Davis reviewed the salary for public servants, but were to meet on Tuesday to finalize the logistics of the increase. Wilson, addressing the media afterward, stated that a protest was imminent if the agreement was not finalized for workers’ next pay day, October 25.

Davis, moments later, issued a press statement, cancelling Tuesday’s meeting due to Wilson’s comments.

What’s at stake?

By addressing public workers instead of union leaders in a meeting as promised, Davis could be seen as undercutting unions’ influence. The move risks alienating Wilson and Ferguson, who may feel publicly sidelined.

Davis may want to be seen as the reasonable figure in a heated dispute, positioning his government as solutions-oriented and above the fray.

It remains to be seen if this tone and new position will calm tensions or deepen the divide between the government and the unions.

Scores of workers of the Bahamas Public Service Union gathered near Parliament Square advocating for pay increases, chanting “We want our money and we want it now.”

What happened

The group along with President Kimsley Ferguson is calling for salary increases and has accused the government of ‘union busting.’ He said the government is stalling negotiations and the union is still waiting for its industrial agreement to be signed.

While Down Town, he and other leaders of various unions in the country held a conversation with Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper but Ferguson said he was not satisfied and was “very disappointed”  in the government’s response.

“There is a serious case for concern when there is no integrity in the leadership of the country… There is no one to speak for the public servants,” he said.

Ferguson said he and the group will up the ante if the demands for increased pay are not met.

“We will continue to agitate until we get the results we want.”

Why it matters

The government has proposed annual increases for permanent secretaries, directors and department heads. The union says it shows that the government has sufficient funding to give public servants adequate increases.