DAVIS: I am a Prime Minister that wants to resolve problems!
STATEMENT: I can not let this evening go by without addressing a threatened unlawful industrial action announced by the Leader of the Bahamas Trade Union Congress Obie Ferguson. He is an attorney and should well know about good faith and lawful conduct. The publicly proposed action is therefore surprising. It seems to me that in the face of this threat to break the law, the government must act.
I appeal to members of the trade unions and their leadership to look at the facts. There is no issue that can not be discussed and has not been discussed. You know that I have had an open door and the door remains open.
It is curious to me that after days of trying to reach Mr. Ferguson by phone, and his apparent refusal to answer his phone, he now publishes a voice note saying with the untruth that my government has not sought to resolve problems.
In fact my diary shows that he had agreed to a meeting tomorrow at 2 p.m. So is it not in bad faith to agree to meet and then tell his members to go on strike?
I am not standing on ceremony though. I am a Prime Minister that wants to resolve problems.
But my concern is for the wellbeing of the nation. The question one must ask is why would the head of the TUC want to inflict harm on the nation when the problems can be solved by discussions and not an unlawful strike?
I have consulted and remain in talks with my minister responsible for Labour and the Public Service, Hon. Pia Glover-Rolle. She has done a yeoman’s job on the labour front and stands ready as do I to continue to engage.
To be clear, today, my commitment stands.
Union leaders, workers, my government, and all right thinking Bahamians want what is best for our Bahamas.
We must and will make every reasonable, fair, and rational effort to provide proper health care, and save our economy with the movement of visitors, residents, and products entering and exiting our islands with the controls of Customs and Immigration. We value all other civil servants seeking some level of negotiated resolve.
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