“AG drops Sandals case – Nolle prosequi came same day as redundancies” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “The attorney general stopped a private prosecution against the top management of Sandal’s Royal Bahamian Resort on August 15, the same day the property made 600 jobs redundant, it was revealed today.

Trade Union Congress President Obie Ferguson said it is no coincidence.

‘Obviously from August 15 this nolle prosequi was signed and on August 15^th, 600 workers were terminated,” Ferguson told The Nassau Guardian.”

Could it be possible that the most labor friendly government in the history of the Bahamas has failed them again by working against their best interest, while claiming to be unaware of what was happening to them at this resort?

 “Gibson blasts Sandals as 600 lose their jobs” – The Tribune; 16^th August 2016

Excerpt from this article; Labour Minister Shane Gibson said his ministry was given very little notice by Sandal Royal Bahamian Resort of its decision to make more than 600 employees redundant yesterday so it could conduct renovations.

However, Mr. Gibson’s suggestion was denied by a source connected with Sandals who told The Tribune that high-ranking officials of the resort informed the Prime Minister Perry Christie of their intention to make employees redundant”, so we have a claim of the Prime Minister being informed and a claim by the minister of labour that he was given very little warning ; this within itself is laughable, did the Prime Minister not inform the Minister of Labour of communications from Sandals? Could the Christie administration possibly be this inept and incompetent? 

So when did the minister know about the terminations?

‘My ministry first learned of the closure on Tuesday, August 1, with the rest of the country when information was leaked to the media and printed in the local newspapers.  I requested a meeting with officials from Sandals on August 3.

‘We met with Chief Executive Officer of Sandals Resorts International Adam Stewart as well as members of the executive and legal teams.  During that meeting, we asked them to consider laying employees off instead of making then redundant.  They told us that they would consider this suggestion and get back to us within 24 hours.  However, after not hearing from them, my ministry wrote Sandals a letter in August 4, requesting the resort’s latest position and further details on the proposed closure. ‘Sandals has yet to respond to my ministry,’ Mr. Gibson added, ‘Instead resort representatives wrote the attorney general and copied the Ministry of Labour on Friday, August 12, informing us of their decision.”

So the government learned about the planned closure two weeks before it took place, met with officials of the resort, followed it up with a letter and then claimed to have had very little notice of the terminations when the resort notified the attorney general on August 12, three days before the workers were made redundant.

Why does this government continue to play with the livelihoods of the people that they were elected to represent and do so without an iota of empathy?

Continuing in this charade; Minister Gibson then on the 20^th of August claimed to be suspicious of the fact that Sandals was holding a job fair just a week after terminating 600 employees.  I have reached the point where I cannot trust this government even if they were to tell me that water if wet, I would have to go and check this for myself because with each passing day they give me more and more reasons to not take them at their word.

There has been no word from the Prime Minister’s office refuting the claims of having been informed of Sandals intentions, only but to say that he found out too late but was it ever the minister’s intent to intervene on behalf of the Bahamian workers?

The Progressive Liberal Party fails for one reason, it is their nature.

END