Constitutional Reform was the agenda behind the National Congress of Trade Unions of the Bahamas (NCTUB) as the organization is amending its constitution for all Union affiliates to align with international standards.

“There are changes we’ve made in the constitution to ensure that affiliates fall in line with international standards to be more unified,” says Bernard Evans, President of NCTUB and Bahamas Communication Publics Office Union (BCPOU). told The Journal yesterday during the opening ceremony of the Union’s 2017’s Special Convention.

Due to the amount of different Unions in The Bahamas and each one of them yielding to a different constitution, unifying all the unions is the primary goal.

Mr. Evans told The Journal at the opening of the Union’s 2017 Special Convention, “there are so many affiliates out there and each affiliate has its own constitution.

“We figure that if we revise our own constitution for the congress, which is the umbrella unit for all the affiliates, that will set the tone now for each affiliate to fall in line to get their constitution reformed.”

Women’s equality is also another factor that the NCTUB is going to focus on; equality across the board, says Evans.

“What’s important to us too is the women’s branch. We want to officially make the women’s branch enshrined in our constitution, for them to have from a gender perspective, equal rights.

He said, “in every aspect, we want to ensure that women are recognized and appreciated. We feel that having them indoctrinated in our constitution guarantees them that right.”

Mr. Bernard also spoke to the importance of making the youth aware of the governance of unions and its role it plays in society.

“The best way to carry on any organization is to have youth participation.” NCTUB President stated.

Rather than wait until one is old enough to enter the workforce, Mr. Bernard aspires to reach out to high schools to teach high school children about the importance of organized labour, so them may have an appreciation of why adults participate in unions.

The Special Convention will be held over two days at the Willamae Bridgewater Convention Centre, BCPOU; yesterday was the first day and today marks the second day.

Mr. Bernard concludes, “Over the next two days the discussions we will have would bring even more recommendations, of how we can better strategically place the congress, make it more viable, more representative of the workers of The Bahamas and their concerns.”