Minister of Labour and the Public Service, the Hon. Pia Glover-Rolle commented on the strike vote taken by members of the Bahamas Customs, Immigration and Allied Workers Union on Thursday.

Glover-Rolle said, “because we are taking our labour approach from a very proactive way we’re looking forward to resolving these matters and hoping that our unions don’t have to strike but at the end of the day it’s their constitutional right and we will never infringe upon that.”

The union took the strike vote after not receiving resolution from the government on issues such as overtime pay and retired personnel being brought back to the job.

The Minister refuted claims that the ministry was blindsided by the strike vote.  She said, “I’m not concerned, a lot of the matters that you hear the union agitating for are fiscal.  We’re trying, we’re negotiating.  When I say we, I’m the mediator, when it gets to the point of stalemate where the unions and in some instances the Ministry of Finance, the unions and certain authorities, not necessarily government ministries are at the table.  They union wants a certain amount, the organization may not be able to fiscally afford it so there is the continued conversation.”

The customs and immigration union polled their members across the country on whether or not they should proceed with industrial action on Wednesday.