Bahamian Leaders Have Always Misread Bahamian Consumers During Boom Times, thus Creating a False Sense of Security and Achievement

An itemized list of the most recent payments shows that virtually no aspect of a consumer’s life is untaxed in The Bahamas

The price of food escalates with each trip to the grocery store in The Bahamas

Consumer’s Corner

CONSUMERS AND ‘KING SOL KERZNER OF ATLANTIS’

By Charles Fawkes

Nassau, The Bahamas

06/04

HOUSE OF LABOUR: With all of the good news coming from ‘King Sol Kerzner of Atlantis’ and his court comprising of no less than the cabinet of Prime Minister Perry Christie, Bahamians can only see the continuation of the Bahamian dream.  Despite this glowing dream presented by Perry Christie and King Kerzner there is always the chance that a nightmare could just be around the corner.  Our leaders have always misread Bahamian consumers during boom times thus creating a false sense of security and achievement.

The recent upsurge in violent crime not withstanding, Bahamians are naturally easygoing peace loving people who would prefer negotiation to confrontation, forgiveness over revenge, and would rather cultivate a friend than create an enemy.  So much so that the common saying is that rather than taking his revenge a Bahamian would elect to “leave you to God”.

If however, you interpret these traits as a sign of weakness you do so at your own peril.  Because, there is a limit to his tolerance – a point beyond which he will not go and his resolve and determination at that point will match anyone’s.

It seems that it is this component of the Bahamian consumer’s personality that is the most difficult for the foreign managers and investors of all resorts properties to comprehend.  They consistently misread the consumers, take liberties and make demands that are totally unacceptable.  They eventually force the consumers and their unions to draw a line in the sand, which the foreign managers/investors still continue to challenge.

Examples in our history of management’s misreading the Bahamian personality are innumerable.  The two classic examples in Bahamian labor history are The Burma Road Riots of 1942 and the General Strike, triggered by the taxi drivers in 1958.  Although in these crises the foreign entities were aided and abetted by the Bahamian White establishment at the time, the underlying principles that were at stake then are the same today.

There is no other area where the consumer’s rights are more under siege than in our largest industry – the Hotel Industry.  And with a political climate more conductive to their design we do not expect much change from the foreign managers/investors for the foreseeable future.  It behooves therefore, Bahamian consumers and their unions to be vigilant and resist all efforts to divide their ranks from within and from without.

Quite often it is not money issues that trigger the consumers to draw the metaphorical line in the sand.  Many times it is the consumer’s dignity; honor and respect that they feel are challenged and trodden upon.

For years as an opposition leader, Perry Christie led a party with no programs, no clear-cut ideology.  All these years, he offered the Bahamian people a hollowed shell, nothing concrete- offering just a dream for sale.  The dream was well designed, carefully packaged and put on the political market.  Most of the Bahamian consumers bought it.

It is just a dream of good houses, fancy cars, quality education, quality living and control of their country.  Like any product, the dream has its price.  The Price is high.  The consumers will have to reject their identity as a class and merge their destinies with that of a new set of oppressors like the Kerzner’s, a set of oppressors who want economic power for themselves and not in the interest of the consuming class.

This is a strange price, because most of the consumers who buy the dream will pay for it with sweat and blood.

The dream however will be kept alive by the Christie’s of this world and thousands of Bahamians will one day wake up to the harsh brutal light of reality.

The bills will come due on the Bahamian dream under Christie’s leadership, just as they came due under Pindling and Ingraham’s dream.

An itemized list of the most recent payments shows that virtually no aspect of a consumer’s life is untaxed.  Some of the costs are direct and immediate.  The price of food escalates with each trip to the grocery store.  A larger percentage each week of a consumer’s wages must go just to maintaining the physical strength to get to the job (if you have a job).  If you don’t have a job, you may be invited to learn to eat air.

And forget about buying a house!  For the very-greedy financers there simply are not enough profits to be made from the long, agonizing repayment of mortgages; thus, the banks have jumped the interest rates so high that home ownership is virtually forbidden.

Effective medical care is equally expensive and even more restricted.  A consumer without an insurance or money may suffer on a hospital’s steps for want of medical attention.

The children of consumers are finishing twelve or more years of school semi-literate, ignorant of their own history and lacking any consciousness.

Denied the necessities of life, unprotected by the government which was supposed to be “of, by and for the people” - but is more clearly than ever the basic weapon for controlling the consuming class, many consumers will turn to the unions as the only organizations which may have the power to save them.

These consumers will find the unions so hobbled by law, so limited by poor leadership that they are mere ghosts of the muscular, vital fighting forces of the fifties.  When they critically examine the right wing parties, they will find nothing worth accepting, they will realize that all of the noise and sweet talk amongst this group of misleaders are just the death rattle of an ebbing era in Bahamian politics.

Continuing this dream under the current setup will mean:

·        Unemployment above 10.8%!

·        Low wages and long hours!

·        Rising Inflation!

·        Poor housing!

·        Dangerously poor sanitation!

·        High rents and greedy landlords!

·        Inadequate water supply!

·        Poor education!

·        Poor medical care!

·        Corrupt and incompetent officials!

·        Political repression and victimization!

·        Foreign control of the best land!

·        Exorbitant prices for imported necessities

·        No development of agriculture!

·        No taxes on the rich or foreign investors!

·        Crime, Drugs, Prostitution and Rape!

However, we don’t have to put up with it forever.  We don’t have to endure the lies and corruption.   We can put an end to foreign domination of our country.  We can set our youth free from crime and unemployment.  We can liberate our women from prostitution.  We can have full employment at decent wages.  Our land and our resources do not have to be controlled by foreign interests.  Our children can have the education they deserve.  Our families can have decent housing and the finest in medical cares.  Other nations have already put an end to exploitation and oppression.  And we can build a just and humane society in the Bahamas also.

Building this kind of society will mean true freedom of speech and religion and true freedom of the press.  Today real freedom belongs only to those few who have the money to control the press and make themselves heard.  But under a new Bahamas, freedom can belong to all and will not be for sale to the few.

It will mean that all people will control the wealth of our country.  The profits that are now going to a few wealthy Bahamians and foreign investors could be available to meet the need of the people.  Instead of mansions and yachts for millionaires, we can have good housing; education and medial care for all.

It will mean an end to unemployment.  Today we have unemployment because those who own everything don’t think they can make enough profit by investing in projects that will provide jobs for all.  But under a new Bahamas, we will need the labor of everyone to meet public needs.

It could mean genuine democracy.  Wealth will not be able to buy political power.  Those with access to wealth will be taxed, and the wealth will be used for the public good.  Those who hold public office will be working and the people, through the right of referendum and recall, will control them.  There could be effective local government in every neighbourhood on every island.  And those who serve in government will be paid a workman’s wage not the exorbitant salaries of today.

Charles Fawkes is President of the National Consumer Association and organizer for the Commonwealth Group of Unions, Inside Labour Columnist for the Bahama Journal, Editor of the Headline News, The ConsumerGuard and The Workers’ Vanguard

Weak Leadership Concerns about The Bahamas Hotel Catering & Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU)

Former Leaders of The Hotel Union are Very Concerned and Disappointed" in The Direction the Union is Headed

Hotel Union "In Reverse" - Says Former VP

By Candia Dames

Candiadames@hotmail.com

14/01/2004

The weather is rough and the hotel union needs a strong captain, according to its former Vice President Alexander Thompson.

In an interview with the Bahama Journal Tuesday, he said if former union President Thomas Bastian were still in charge, the present contract negotiations with the Hotel Employers Association would have ended long ago.

Mr. Thompson, 66, who served as vice president of the union for 12 years, said his former colleague, Mr. Bain, is a "good person", but a "weak leader."

"The president can not be hot and cold at the same time.  He has to make decisions," Mr. Thompson said, while noting that Mr. Bastian was "very concerned and disappointed" in the direction the union was headed.

He noted that under the leadership of Mr. Bain, the union did not have the skills needed to hold on to Worker's Bank, which was bought by Bank of The Bahamas.

"I think Mr. Bain likes to please everybody and that can't happen," he added.  "The employers don't seem to have a high regard for leadership of the union."

Mr. Thompson also intimated that he and Mr. Bastian were pained by what they perceived to be the slow progress made by the union under Mr. Bain's leadership.

"[Mr. Bastian] is concerned because we've put so much years into this union and that wasn't easy," Mr. Thompson said.  "He's concerned for the union and for the workers."

But not all trade unionists agree that Mr. Bain is a weak leader.

Frank Carter, former president of the Airport Airline and Allied Workers Union, believes that Mr. Bain has simply been getting a bad rap and that there is a bias against him in the media.

"It's mainly because the employers have been very successful in getting their propaganda out and unions usually lose the public relations battle.  We don't have the sort of financial resources or the friends in the media like the employers," said Mr. Carter, who is also the 1st vice president of the umbrella organization, the National Congress of Trade Unions, which Mr. Bain also heads.

He said, "I think Mr. Bain tries to listen to all points of view. He tries to be more inclusive of the views of his executive team to come to positions by consensus. His style is just different from Thomas Bastian's, whose style was different from David Knowles'."

Mr. Carter is now the principal of an industrial and labour relations consultancy firm in Palmdale. He said that it is not unusual for the union and the association to still be negotiating a new agreement after 16 months.

"I'm not surprised," Mr. Carter said. "If you look at other negotiations in The Bahamas over the years and negotiations in other jurisdictions, you would find that this is not so much out of the ordinary. I believe the high visibility and at times the public pronouncements by both sides and also the concerns of the government have brought more attention to these negotiations."

He said he once negotiated for 22 months with Bahamasair for a new contract.

"Sometimes it is very difficult," Mr. Carter pointed out.  "So I can understand [the difficulty faced by] Brother Pat Bain and his team and I can also understand [the difficulty faced by] Mr. Barrie Farrington who heads the employers' team."

Mr. Carter added that members of the union's executive team were working well together and to suggest otherwise would be incorrect.

But Mr. Thompson has doubts about that.

"They have some serious problems as I understand it," he told the Bahama Journal.

 Mr. Thompson, who has been out of active trade unionism for a few years, advised Mr. Bain to be willing to give up more, although he acknowledged that he had no inside information on the talks.

"You never get what you want," he said.

But Mr. Thompson conceded that the 12 percent salary increase the union is demanding is reasonable.

"If you look at the workers at the lower end, people in the kitchen and the garden, that's not really doing too much for them," he said.

Government officials mediating the talks expect that the matter will come to a head before the end of the week.