President of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s (BEC) Union Paul Maynard said yesterday that the weekend’s island-wide blackout was caused by the corporation’s ancient equipment.

Maynard’s comments came following the assertion by BEC’s Chairman Leslie Miller that the island-wide blackout was caused by neglect.

During yesterday’s broadcast of the radio talk show Issues of the Day, Maynard fired back saying that the union will not tolerate Miller’s “nonsense”.

“Mr. Miller should have been encouraging people instead of bringing the staff down,” Maynard said.

Miller also indicated that the blackout was preventable and he was doubtful that anyone would be held responsible for dereliction of duty.

However, Maynard explained that the blackout could have happened easily because BEC has ancient equipment, which Miller is aware of.

He noted that once BEC gets upgraded equipment and generators, island-wide blackouts will cease.

Maynard also indicated that he had conversations with the prime minister regarding the issues at BEC and he has no problems cooperating with the government. Therefore, he would prefer not to “deal” with Miller anymore.

“We are not going to put up with his nonsense,” Maynard said. “I’m not scared of him.”

He stressed that Miller needs to understand that employees at BEC carry out a dangerous job and don’t have time for childish games.

“For a 65-year-old man with grown children, he acts like a little child and he needs to stop this nonsense and get serious. This is not a play play thing. You messing with people’s livelihood,” Maynard said.

Even though Miller asserted that the blackout was caused by neglect, the corporation has launched an investigation into the cause of this power outage, which inconvenienced so many Bahamians and visitors to the island.

The major weekend blackout began last Friday and left thousands of Bahamians in the dark and forced some businesses to cease operations.