Union workers plan to riot over non-payment

~~Adz:Right~~ NASSAU, Bahamas-EMPLOYEES of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) grew angrier Monday (Sept. 22) as they concluded a weekend work stoppage over wages owed to them for services rendered in the past two weeks.

“We are being held hostage for something we have no control over and it is ridiculous,” one angry worker told The Nassau Guardian. “We are at the point where we are willing to take this thing to the next level if we have to. If this situation is not resolved this week, we'll riot big time.”

The worker’s comments exemplified the general mood of the 114 BHCAWU employees who have not received any pay due to a legal dispute amongst the union’s upper echelons.

Union Trustees Ian Neely and Kayla Bodie have allegedly refused to sign the employees’ paycheques because of a row with BHCAWU President Roy Colebrooke, who they have accused of misappropriating Union funds.

In a recent legal decision in favor of Neely and Bodie, Colebrooke was barred from issuing cheques without a signature from the Treasurer and a Trustee, instead of merely requiring the president’s signature as had been done in the past fifty years of the Union.

It is alleged that BHCAWU Secretary General Leo Douglas and Treasurer Basil McKenzie have signed the cheques in question, but Neely and Bodie have refused to do so until Colebrooke is held accountable for what they call the “wrongful” dismissal of union organizer Raymond Wright.

Meanwhile, workers returned to their posts this morning, but promised to work at a very slow pace until their paycheques are received.

Colebrooke told The Bahamas Journal that there was very little he could do in the matter because of the legal actions that had been taken against him.

“It is wrong. I don’t like it, but there is nothing I can do. I am law abiding and so I have to follow the judge’s order.”

He did state, however, that he would be in contact with BHCAWU attorney Harvey Tynes.
“We may have to go to court to seek an order regarding this matter because these employees have to be paid,” Colebrooke said.

Secretary General Douglas has repeatedly stated his displeasure with having to wait on “the trustees [to] decide they will do their jobs and sign the checks”, but BHCAWU First Vice President Kirk Wilson says that Neely and Bodie have been turned into “scapegoats” because of their history with Colebrooke.

“I am sympathetic towards everybody at the Union and we will try to bring this thing to a close as soon as possible. We will try our best to do the best by the members, but we just want them to know that it isn't the trustees’ fault that nothing is happening. You have a whole lot of mix-up things in the middle there that they know nothing about,” Wilson told the Guardian.

Wednesday (Sept. 24) will mark three weeks since the employees have received any compensation.