Some progress was made yesterday  in mediation talks between the  two Unions and the  management of the Water and Sewerage Corporation. Former President of the Bahamas Christian Council Reverend Ranford Patterson along with Labour Director John Pinder and his assistant director  served as mediators.

The Bahamas Utilities Services and Allied Workers Union (BUSAWU) and the corporation’s managerial union had an opportunity to voice their grievances in hopes of receiving some amicable resolution. 

On the meeting with BUSAWU President Dwayne Woods, Mr. Pinder said, “that meeting had to do with the two suspensions.  The corporation was supposed to conclude those matters and the two members that were suspended were  supposed to have  returned  to work (Monday).

“Some added information is necessary now for the corporation to really make a clear decision on that. The employee that was suspended for five days; the chairman and the board have  agreed to reduce that suspension to three days.”, he added. 

He also said, “it appears that the union is still not satisfied with that. They wanted to squash it, indicating that there was no policy as it relates to the property of the corporation versus the premises itself.”

He added that there is a clause in their Industrial Agreement to implement such policies. 

Both parties, however, accepted that this was probably being abused. 

Just last week WSC Managerial Union President Ednell Rolle called for an investigation after it was suspected that WSC may have been recording employee phone conversations. 

Mr. Pinder said, “ in addition to those allegations, it was said that the corporation had people following their members after they got off from work  to their homes. 

“We had no substantial evidence to suggest any of that happened, but the corporation still agreed to allow the Police department to conduct a sweep to determine if there were any hidden devices.”, he added. 

Mr. Pinder also said that the corporation’s IT manager has already contacted Police on the matter. 

They are now awaiting a date from the police. 

On the topic of pay cuts for those involved in last week’s industrial action, the Labour Director said that the board remained unmoved. 

He added that both parties will have to negotiate that point on their own , as that is beyond his jurisdiction. 

There is also a clause in both union’s industrial agreements speaking to employees being off for four consecutive days. 

 This, he said, this  leads to automatic dismissal. 

Mr. Pinder told reporters that he thinks both parties’ working relationship needs improvement. Only if this occurs, he says, industrial harmony is possible.