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Volume: 118 No.201, September 14, 2021
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WILDCAT ACTION SHUTS AIRPORTS By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
AIRPORT operations on several Family Islands were severely affected yesterday after more than a dozen airport employees refused to show up to work in protest of unresolved workplace grievances. In an interview with The Tribune, Director of Aviation Algernon Cargill said airports on Abaco, Bimini, Cat Island, South Andros and San Salvador were closed as a result of Monday’s industrial action, which he called “illegal” and “disappointing”. He said teams from New Providence had to be deployed to Abaco so services there could be
resumed as the island’s airport had suffered the most from the workers’ action. Industrial unrest also affected public hospitals in New Providence and Grand Bahama after several BPSU workers called in sick, affecting healthcare services there. “The Airport Authority is fully aware that the Bahamas Public (Service) Union has coordinated an illegal withdrawal of labour and I say illegal because as far as I’m aware, there’s been no trade dispute filed and secondly, the Airport Authority has always acted in good faith with the Bahamas Public Service Union,” Mr Cargill told The Tribune. SEE PAGE THREE
BAHAMAS Union of Teachers President Belinda Wilson has expressed “disgust” and “disappointment” that a new industrial agreement has not been signed with the government despite 14 months of negotiations and 95 percent of the contract being complete. She said only three sessions were needed to finish
the document. Despite this, she said numerous attempts to cross the finish line fell on deaf ears. “I would be remiss if I did not publicly express the disgust, disappointment and repugnance felt by the Bahamas Union of Teachers after spending 14 months at the table negotiating a new industrial agreement,” Mrs Wilson said recently. SEE PAGE THREE
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A PROMINENT developer yesterday warned first-time Bahamian homeowners must be able to access “the front door” if the Prime Minister’s ambition of sparking a construction boom is to be realised. Arawak Homes president Franon Wilson said the package of construction and tax breaks unveiled by Dr Hubert Minnis will not yield maximum effect unless the two greatest obstacles to home ownership are addressed - down payments and closing costs. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
INITIATIVE TO TACKLE COURTS’ BACKLOG
TEACHERS UNION’S ANGER AT FAILURE TO FINISH DEAL By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net
NEW HOMES PLAN GETS LUKEWARM REACTION
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
SO MANY LOST... COVID-19 continues to affect the country and has claimed the lives of so many, including Dr Ianthe Cartwright Bastian. Felicity Darville writes on PAGE EIGHT about the virus that has touched the lives of us all, and cost us so many we hold dear.
CHIEF Justice Sir Brian Moree announced yesterday there will be a major contract signing to address the court backlog some time before November. Sir Brian spoke about the issue at the official launch of the Office of the Judiciary’s Bahamas Bail Management System. The judiciary has been experiencing a backlog in cases and is trying to work its way through them. The Chief Justice said this is a “perennial problem” for court systems around the world. SEE PAGE SEVEN
NO PARADES BUT A ‘JUNKANOO EVENT’ By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net JUNKANOO Corporation of New Providence chairman Dion Miller said while the organisation does not foresee any “traditional” parades this year, stakeholders are in the process of planning a Junkanoo “experience” to commemorate the festival in spite of the COVID-19 surge. Mr Miller said the “new
THE SAXONS on parade on January 1, 2020. experience” will not replace Junkanoo as the country knows and loves it but will be something people can enjoy “in place” of the traditional parade amid the pandemic.
“In regard to this year, the JCNP and our partners do not foresee any traditional Junkanoo parades this year as we have seen in past years and that’s due to the COVID pandemic,” he said. “I can share that we have just begun some sort of communication with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and our corporate sponsors on developing plans for a Junkanoo experience.” SEE PAGE FOUR
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
PETER YOUNG: WHAT HAS THE US LEARNED 20 YEARS ON FROM 9/11?
- SEE PAGE NINE