The National Congress of Trade Unions to commemorate the historic 1958 general strike which brought Nassau to its knees...

Trade Unions Congress to mark 1958 general strike
tribune242
Nassau, The Bahamas


AT A TIME of high tension between the government and labour unions over the sale of BTC, the National Congress of Trade Unions has decided to commemorate the historic general strike which brought Nassau to its knees for several weeks in 1958.

NCTU general secretary Robert Farquharson announced that a rally and voter registration march will be held on Monday beginning at 7pm at RM Bailey Park.

The march will begin at the BCPOU headquarters on Farrington Road at noon.

Mr Farquharson asked all members and affiliates to take their lunch hour at that time, make the five-minute walk to the Parliamentary Registration Department and register to vote. He noted that persons will need to have their passport and national insurance card with them in order to register.

The general strike of 1958, in which thousands of workers took part, resulted in the Trade Union and Industrial Conciliation Act and the creation of the Labour Department.

It is also credited with influencing Allan Lennox Boyd, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, to order the first constitutional steps toward Majority Rule for the Bahamas.

While the NCTU's statement made no mention of the government's current plan to sell BTC to Cable and Wireless, several union leaders have threatened to protest the deal by orchestrating a strike rivaling the 1958 upheaval.

This week, State Finance Minister Zhivargo Laing hit back at these union bosses, saying their threats display their "arrogance."

Mr Laing said: "They hold fast to this position to the extent of a threat of national strike, to the extent of going down to Bay Street. They say, 'I know better than the whole country, I know better than the prime minister and the government, we know what is good and right'."

He also noted that the unions are decrying the deal but declined to meet with David Shaw, CEO of the purchaser Cable and Wireless, for discussions late last year.

As for BTC's privatisation, Mr Laing reasoned that the sale is crucial in order for BTC to compete in a completely open telecommunications sector.

"In terms of BTC, privatisation of telecommunications is fundamental to pushing us toward, realising our potential. This is what we have to get, the big gain to the Bahamian people is in a liberal telecommunications sector. Liberal meaning no law of the Bahamas bars a Bahamian from providing a telecommunications service to the Bahamian population," said Mr Laing.

"When we liberalise it, you and others get to compete to serve the Bahamian public. That competition makes you better off, that liberalising also provides the economy with more products and services at levels that allows the enterprises in it to compete better and make the economy of the Bahamas more competitive."

BTC's markets will become fully liberalised after the expiration of its cellular monopoly three years from the date of privatisation.

According to Mr Laing, if the industry were to be completely liberalised today, BTC's assets would plummet.

"We have an asset called BTC, if I liberalise the sector today that asset will be decimated in BTC's current situation. There is no question about that, even BTC's own internal research tells them - forget privatisation, in a liberalised environment you will have to instantly reduce your staffing by the order of 25 to 30 per cent in order to be able to compete. So that is why privatisation has to be pursued before (liberalisation)," he said.

January 08, 2011

tribune242

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