Unions want AG to resign

Mon, Sep 26th 2016, 11:00 AM

The leaders of the country's two largest umbrella unions are demanding that Prime Minister Perry Christie remove Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson from her post, as they believe they can no longer negotiate with her in "good faith" after she put a stop to the private prosecution of Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort's top management without telling the unions or several of her Cabinet colleagues.

John Pinder, president of the National Congress of Trade Unions Bahamas (NCTUB), and Obie Ferguson, president of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas Trade Union Congress (TUC), made the revelation of Guardian Radio 96.9 FM talk show "The Revolution" with host Juan McCartney yesterday.

"We must ask the prime minister to have Allyson Maynard removed from the attorney general's position," Pinder said.

"So we are asking him right now, publically, and we'll put this in writing to him. We are asking for her resignation. We want her to resign, because we cannot move in good faith with somebody who is disingenuous, and who is not upfront..."

The union leaders claim they were "blindsided" this week when news broke that the attorney general signed a nolle prosequi on August 15, the same day around 600 jobs were being made redundant at the Cable Beach resort.

The prosecution involved allegations that Sandals General Manager Gary Williams and financial controller Ronnie Mirza failed or refused to enter into contract negotiations with the Bahamas Hotel Maintenance and Allied Workers Union (BHMAWU) during the period of November 16, 2015 through July 12, 2016.

Maynard-Gibson clarified in a statement on Thursday night that the nolle was entered in the Magistrate's Court on September 19.

The attorney general is under no legal obligation to explain the nolle as the constitution gives her office the discretion to stop any criminal matter before Bahamian courts.

Pinder said he knows there is nothing the union can do about it, but they no longer feel comfortable with Maynard-Gibson at the table.

"While we have no legal power to touch what the attorney general did, and we know she did it within her power, we were only disappointed that she was very disingenuous in the meeting that we had with her, the prime minister and the minister of labor, when she had known full well what she had done and blindsided her government and definitely her prime minister," Pinder said.

"He (the prime minister) was blindsided. He didn't know what was happening. We didn't know what was happening. She sat there as if she was sitting there talking to us in good faith and we were expecting something to happen.

"So we can't sit to [any] table now and talk about continue no negotiations in good faith with somebody like that, so we want her resignation.

"We think the prime minister ought to ask her to resign as attorney general. Now if he wants to put her someplace else, that's up to him. But we don't think we can work with her as attorney general."

Minister of Labour Shane Gibson, Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis and Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe each said they were left in the dark about the nolle prosequi.

They said they were disappointed the AG didn't inform them about the nolle.

Gibson claimed the prime minister told him he didn't know about the nolle before it happened.

Free National Movement Chairman Sidney Collie called for the AG's resignation on Wednesday saying that the power of the attorney general to issue such a dismissal is "prone to potential misuse, abuse and favoritism" under her tenure in office.

Pinder said union leaders are unwilling to let the matter rest.

"Certainly we cannot allow what happened [with] Sandals to duplicate itself again in The Bahamas, because... when she nolle'd that, she set a new precedent in the whole region," Pinder said. "So I have person from other unions around the Caribbean saying, 'Boy, what is this precedent she is setting?'"

Pinder said Maynard-Gibson is sending the message that, "You don't have to go to no table with no recognized bargaining agent. The union who is the recognized bargaining agent, you don't have to go to the table with them. If you don't want to go you don't have to go.

"So we have to now force the minister of labor to get legislation in place."

"We want to now call on the minister to take those recommendations that we have already forwarded to him to amend the Industrial Relations Act and the Employment Act to prevent this kind of thing from happening."

In her statement, Gibson said she wanted to clarify "misinformation" being spread about the nolle.

"Another action is before the Supreme Court on the matter of whether the Sandals employees were unfairly dismissed," she explained.

"The union, not the state, also commenced in the Magistrate's Court, a private prosecution against some of Sandals' managers."

Ferguson called it "nonsense" that a party cannot have a criminal matter and a civil before two different courts at the same time.

"A civil matter is on the balance of probability. A criminal matter is beyond reasonable doubt. They're two different things," he said. "If I owe you $100, that's a civil matter if I want to sue you for it. If I come and I slap you or I assault you, that's a criminal matter.

"How could you wipe out a criminal matter [because of] a civil matter? It just doesn't make sense. There's no legal basis for it. But people say things to satisfy themselves.

Free National Movement Chairman Sidney Collie called for the AG's resignation on Wednesday saying that the power of the attorney general to issue such a dismissal is "prone to potential misuse, abuse and favoritism" under her tenure in office.

Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts has said the PLP supports the attorney general's decision.

Prime Minister Christie yesterday evaded questions about the matter.

Royston Jones Jr., Guardian Staff Reporter

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