Gaming Board employees, 30 of them, who were terminated in December last year may soon see a brighter light at the end of the tunnel with regard to their employment, according to Bahamas Public Service Union President Kimsley Ferguson.  He  said that after a lengthy meeting with the Minister of Labour,  there will be an attempt to bring some resolution  for  those who  Mr. Ferguson said were  terminated unjustly.

“We’ve had a meeting with the Minister of Labour and the Director of Labour was present at that time and we had discussion on what should and should not have taken place.

“However, the final resolve was that the Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes would actually bring to the table or cause to come to the table of the Gaming Board,  its Chairman and he would seek to have a discussion with them with a view to getting a resolution  of  the matter  at hand,” Mr. Ferguson said.

“He said he would do everything within his power to seek to ensure that whatever is decided  is satisfactory for all concerned and so that is where we are with that.

“I think that a meeting is supposed to take place tomorrow [today] and he ensured us that he would get back to us as quickly as he possibly can,  so that we can move forward with the matter,” Mr. Ferguson said.

When asked about the discussion on the aspect of pensions that were due to those terminated employees, Mr. Ferguson suggested that talks on pension  is not the direction they seek to move in,  as it gives way to the idea of the employees not being reinstated

“We don’t want to go the pension route yet, because that speaks to finality.

“We want to address the fact that there was no consultation with the union and what could have happened if there had been proper consultation. These are the issues that we intend to address;  so let us get through that part of it,” Mr. Ferguson said.

At the end of last year, some 30 employees at the Gaming Board, ranging from administrative assistants to managerial staff were terminated, allegedly with no just reason for dismal.

Gaming Board chairman Kenyatta Gibson attributed the layoffs to severe overstaffing  and the need to ensure the future viability of the Gaming Board as an effective regulator.