Bahamas News

A Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) official has released details of the acts of sabotage the company believes are connected to last week’s industrial action.

In a statement issued yesterday, BTC said at least five acts of sabotage took place.

BTC Vice President of Marketing Marlon Johnson said while the company has no hard evidence to prove that any worker sabotaged anything, it is suspected because of timing.

“What we had are some cabinets that house the components in the neighborhoods where all the telephone lines link up. It’s where the telephone lines meet for distribution into the main feeder area,” he said.

“In cabinets in certain neighborhoods like Marshall Road, Muttonfish Drive, Sunshine Park, Flamingo Gardens and Cowpen Road…we have evidence where persons actually entered into the box and damaged the cable links which shut down the residential lines and some business lines in those areas.”

Last week, members of the Networking Services Division temporarily halted work in order to have their voice heard about a number of outstanding issues the union has with the management of BTC.

BTC officials said they were baffled as to why union members took action as the proper protocols were not being followed regarding industrial discontent.

“We are aware that there are several issues that were outstanding, however, when the union feels a grievance to the point where they are conducting industrial action, there is a process by which they file that grievance at the Ministry of Labour, and to our knowledge they haven’t filed that grievance. Industrial action takes place after you have filed that grievance,” he said.

Mr. Johnson declined to say what the details of the issues were.

“These are matters of ongoing dialogue. I don’t wish to prejudice the outcome of these issues by going into the details of them, but suffice it to say, the issues as we are aware are being managed within the confines of the discussion and dialogue that we have with the union on an ongoing basis,” he said.

Mr. Johnson added that some of the issues are longstanding.

In an interview with The Bahama Journal on Tuesday, Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) President Robert Farquharson said he was shocked to hear of any illegal behaviour connected to last week’s industrial action or the union.

He said the BCPOU has been fully cooperative with BTC and denounced any acts of sabotage that may have been perpetrated on the company.

“Any attempt by BTC’s management to connect any acts of sabotage to the union is cruel and inhumane,” Mr. Farquharson said.

In the statement, BTC said the police have been called in to investigate the alleged acts of sabotage.

Source: Bahama Journal