Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) President Dino Rolle did not accept Liberty Latin America CEO Balan Nair’s apology and has called for his resignation.
Nair apologized to Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis and Bahamians following his insulting comments about Bahamians employed at the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) and their work ethic.
The comments were made during a meeting in Jamaica and went viral in a video that circulated on social media.
“The comments in the video by Mr. Nair, underscore the concerns that have been expressed by the executives and members of the BCPOU,” Rolle said in a closed union meeting on Wednesday with BCPOU executives in response to Nair’s actions and the executive management of BTC.
“Mr. Nair and his team of executives demonstrate on a daily basis poor leadership as they lack any moral compass or sensitivity. Instead of developing a firm strategic plan supported by capital investment for the Bahamas, whereby motivating the staff to perform, they result to ‘plantation tricks and tactics’ to pit various operations against each other.”
Rolle added, “We are only asking Mr. Nair and his team of hand-picked executives to perform or resign. The Bahamian leadership team that was in place handed them a functioning and profitable company. This constant banter and placing the burden of the vision and delivery of the objectives of BTC on the backs of line-staff is pure and utter rubbish. Leadership does not work like that. They need to lead by example.”
He said for some time now BCPOU has been fighting vigorously to preserve the jobs of its members post privatization and the fight is even more so now under the current leadership of BTC’s Jamaican CEO Gary Sinclair and Nair.
“This dedication has heightened in recent weeks after BCPOU learnt of the pending downsizing at BTC, the possible outsourcing of jobs presently held by Bahamians and now Liberty’s interest in purchasing additional shares in BTC from the government,” Rolle explained.
“We must find our voice. For too long we’ve sat and allowed foreign entities to come and take from us what rightfully belongs to us as Bahamians. BTC was built on the backs and with the blood sweat and tears of Bahamians. They knew what it took to run this company. How else do you explain BTC’s ability to maintain above 80 percent market share for up to 18 months after competition? It was under the leadership of a Bahamian CEO, Mr. Leon Williams. As soon as he was ousted and someone who doesn’t understand the ‘lay-of-the-land’ sat in the chair, we began struggling to hold onto a mere 50 percent market-share.”
Rolle, in his meeting, also drew similarities to what he calls the poor leadership styles of Liberty’s CEO and BTC’s CEO.
“Mr. Sinclair made similar declarations about BTC’s staff to the public,” Rolle said. “Mr. Sinclair had previously referred to the staff as ‘dead wood’. Not surprisingly, he is now on-track for being the first CEO in the 2000s to lead the company without turning a profit.
“Not only is their behavior disingenuous, the poor management and fledging decline in revenues is detrimental to the government’s interests, as they are the majority shareholder for BTC.”
