Dozens of employees at the Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) on Wednesday abandoned their posts to hold a strike for the resignation of the corporation’s General Manager Glen Leville.
For the second consecutive day, a group of union members gathered on WSC grounds on Thompson Boulevard to protest for their rights after claims of years of unfair treatment.
President of the Bahamas Utilities Services and Allied Workers Union (BUSAWU) Dwayne Woods was at the forefront of that strike.
Supported by nearly 50 union workers, he explained why the government should fully investigate Mr. Leville and why he should be immediately removed from his post.
“The corporation under the leadership of the general manager has gone back more than six years on an employee’s file and used minor breaches of which penalties had already been levied on an employee to eventually terminate the individual,” Mr. Woods said.
“The corporation is also attempting to get rid of a contractual employee who has served more than one year with an above average performance rating despite an agreement which says after a year, contract workers will become permanent. Also, despite complaints from the union that fell on deaf ears, the corporation continues to operate recklessly without a Human Resource professional in the top position within the Human Resources Department.”
Mr. Woods said over the last four years, he has been dealing with a myriad of issues caused by the company’s executive management team.
“The general manager is operating as judge, jury and executioner,” he said.
“Union members are sick and tired of the general manager’s foreign and unorthodox style of management, which results in him taking advantage of them and they are now saying that we are sick of it. Enough is enough!”
Mr. Woods said he is calling for a thorough investigation into Mr. Leville after a very disturbing comment he made about the company’s workers.
“He said that after he has grinded us like corn we will be nothing but husk and water and will be of no use to them. Who would say such a thing? He could only be a foreigner with the way he acts because a Bahamian would not treat or speak to Bahamians in that manner. It was disheartening. Why would he say that to the workers,” he said.
The union plans to strike until their matters have been resolved.
Mr. Woods, meanwhile, is calling for stakeholders of the corporation to intervene to bring the matters to a close as soon as possible.
