Dion Foulkes - Minister of Labour accuses BCPOU President Bernard Evans of promoting social unrest and seeking to destabilize the government and the economy of The Bahamas

Unions promoting 'social unrest'
By KEVA LIGHTBOURNE
Guardian Senior Reporter
kdl@nasguard.com


Labour minister hits out over 'small Egypt' comment


Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes has accused Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) President Bernard Evans of promoting social unrest and seeking to destabilize the government and the economy.

It came after Evans on Tuesday threatened to turn The Bahamas into a “small Egypt” as a result of the government signing a deal with Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) to purchase a majority interest in the Bahamas Telecommunications Company.

“The security of thousands of Bahamian jobs depends on political and social stability,” Foulkes said in a statement released by the Free National Movement Communication Unit.

The labor minister urged Evans to withdraw his “offensive comment and apologize to the Bahamian people.”

But Evans said yesterday, “I will do no such thing.

“What I said was those persons in Egypt who rose up against oppression, against a dictatorial type of governance, were very peaceful in the beginning when they started. It was only [in] the latter days when the armed forces and/or proponents of (Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak started to [have] confrontations with those persons that it became out of hand.”

On Tuesday, as he stood on the steps of the Churchill Building, Evans warned of industrial action.

“I see now the police are putting up barricades again as if they are preparing for animals, but the will of the people is the strength of the people,” he said at the time.

“I guess if The Bahamas is ready and if the government is ready to see a small Egypt, then they are going to get it.”

Yesterday, Evans added that by nature, Bahamians are very peaceful people.

“I have always been very cordial and very peaceful, so I don’t know why the minister would want to insinuate that we are trying to wreak havoc on the community or on this nation. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Evans said.

Blasting the “small Egypt” comment, Foulkes noted that many people were killed and hundreds injured in Egypt in recent weeks.

“To urge members of the BCPOU to engage in similar behavior in The Bahamas is unbecoming of a union leader,” he said.

Evans — who has been threatening industrial unrest for weeks — went a step further on Tuesday, apologizing to the Bahamian public for the disruption in services he said will come.

2/10/2011

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