Staff at the General  Post Office not getting all they want for a conducive working environment in this new year,  according to president of the Bahamas Public Services Union, Kimsley Ferguson . He  says  the mold problem at the East Street General Post Office has still not been corrected.

Speaking with this Journal, Mr. Ferguson said that there are a number of issues that were anticipated to be addressed before the start of 2018; however, the East Street location is still not in satisfactory condition.

“We will not encourage our members to work under those conditions, apparently the mold remediation didn’t take place and persons are still getting sick.

“We made an inspection of that premises on last week [before the new year] and we discovered that there are still a number of things that concern us that have not been addressed.

“The bathrooms are not fully functional. Persons still have buckets and garbage bins on their desk catching water; we cannot say whether the water is a result of bad plumbing or whether it’s the result of rain or whatever the case may be, but there is still quite a bit of leaking taking place,” Mr. Ferguson said.

Mr. Ferguson stated that while there was speculation that the staff at the Post Office would go back to regular time since at least the air conditioning had been fixed, he said that he did not see that coming to fruition.

“They are on a shift from 8a.m -1pm.  I would have heard some speculation that they are going to work a full-time shift. I don’t see that happening no time soon until such time as the working conditions in that particular location is satisfactory to the union.

“There have been considerations given to a particular location and they are seeking to actually relocate the post office.

“We want to ensure at this time, that while they temporarily occupy East Street,  we want to ensure that the conditions there are actually satisfactory and conducive to work and so these are the things that we are suggesting now,” Mr. Ferguson said.

Mr. Ferguson  confirmed  however, that although there remains  challenges that hinder proper work flow for the staff, there has been an attempt to address some of their concerns.

“The air condition is in place, its functional but we have a concern about the cosmetics that should take place in order for persons to occupy the office.

“Some tiling has started in certain areas like the Post Master’s Office, they’re seeking to get that part of it sort out.

Mr. Ferguson said that although there have been considerations given to a particular location, in the meantime, based on discussions with the relevant parties, it is understood that there is no sense in spending an exorbitant amount of money on the General Post Office which he calls a temporary space.