Possible Labour Day Date Change
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Patrice Minors today [Jan.20] advised that her Ministry will be considering changing the date on which Bermuda officially celebrates Labour Day from September to May.
Minister Minors confirmed that a request was recently submitted to her for consideration by the Bermuda Trade Union Congress, and thus tabled this week before the Labour Advisory Council.
Minister Minors said, “While there was astounding support for the proposal, I think it’s important to first consult with other key stakeholders for comment and input before the matter is put before her Cabinet colleagues for decision.”
The consultation process is being done in light of the recognition of International Workers’ Day [also known as May Day]. May 1st the formal recognised day of International Workers’ Day, and it is observed as a national holiday in more than 80 countries. On this day, workers join together in celebrating the labour movement.
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Articles that link to this one:
- Minister Minors: No Change In Labour Day Holiday | Bernews.com | April 17, 2012
- Employers Council Supports Labour Day Decision | Bernews.com | April 19, 2012
- Polls Don’t Show Support For Labour Day Move | Bernews.com | November 13, 2012
I like my holidays spread out. One in September is one I look forward too. I celebrate labor by working six-days a week almost all year.
Arent there bigger things to attend to?
Now that Mrs. Minors doesn’t have to complete the task of producing anything er remember the Tourism Plan, she can now focus on what day that people shouldn’t work on top of chasing the foreign potwashers out of town…
This is to become a pre elction party to try and secure votes. Government would otherwise be disinterested.
Obviously Minister Minors has already worked out all the other more pressing issues!
Yea.. minister minus has it all worked out… lord this so caled minister should rsign, she has no clue to what she is doing , please premier get rid of this lady.
Happy this came out on a Friday. Thought it should have probably never come out.
Cue the OBA Response now….. (Please do OBA and piss off the Unions)
Leave it in September. Still hot and summery. May 1st doesn’t cut it and that’s still weeks before my first swim of the year!!
And that fist swim just happens to be in the same month… Just like Bullseye said… it’s nice to have the holidays spread out. 2 in a none swimming month seems wrong!
Wow, The Minister of Trade & Industry’s top priority today is whether to have Labour Day Holiday in May or September. Now I know why Bermuda’s economy is in a steady decline….
Well said!
If we wait till September will there be any jobs left to celebrate?
“Really Minister Minors” Our little Island has a lot more pressing issues and this is what you are working on! Leave the damn holiday alone and get to work on getting exempt companies back here!
Minister minus… do you stil work at your part time job at the bank ? if so PLEASE get out of politics abd go back and try to get your job back at the bank….you were a fool at tourism !!!and the decision that you made regarding pot washers and the deadline was not thought out ..How can you live with yourself .Tony Brannon was right about you…that is why you fired him …bcause he knew more about tourism than you will ever know….
“Minister Minors confirmed that a request was recently submitted to her for consideration by the Bermuda Trade Union Congress (BTUC), and thus tabled this week before the Labour Advisory Council (LAC).” Well here is a request to consider – remove yourself from office Patrice. My gawd we are grasping at straws to keep labour happy!!
Patrice, please enough is enough of your BS… you have no clue what is going on !!!!!
Great idea……Lets move Christmas too. Cant stop laughing
Don’t give them dumb ideas. They always seem to run with them.
This is what our highly paid Government Ministers are doing. Tinkering around with trivial decsisions about what day we have a partaay. Making decisions which will later be reversed (remember when they moved the Queen’s Birthday and then moved it back?)
All this goes on while the unions (who made the request) are losing membership.
It would be funny if it weren’t so ridiculous.
This is so asinine.
This is dumb dumb dumb. Labour Day is perfectly fine where it is. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it…
Why change it? Is there a problem? It has been fine in September all of this time!
Jan=New Years Day March/April=Good Friday, May=Bermuda Day, June Queens Bday/ Heroes Day, August=Cup Match, SEPT=Labor Day, Nov=Rememberance Day Dec=Christmas Day & Boxing Day
Y May ?? I think its fine where it is !!
Worry about the state of Bermuda not moving Holiday’s PLEASE!
Whoopdeedoo.
This is what they are wasting time on ? We pay them for this?
All in all I’m thinking of the kids in the school system. Why change it to May, when the kids are gearing down for final exams??? Why change the holiday to May? Was it a problem having it in September?
She must like wearing white all year long….Snow Queen.
Chalk it up as one of the PLP accomplishments while in office. “Changed the date of Labour Day”. Matches most of the others Ms. Frubet lists.
please tell me today is 1 April and this is a joke…… please…
hold on.. this will really mess with my attire… Labour Day [the real one] tells me when I am to stop wearing white.. if they move it to May, will I have to stop wearing white in May???
You all should be directing your anger at the Bermuda Trade Union Congress, not the Minister. They are they ones who have asked for the matter to be put on the table, and as the represent a large percentage of the Bermuda workforce (teachers, civil servants, Belco workers, musicians and police people (I think)Minister Minors has put their concerns on the table.
For the information of all who post here, the Bermuda Industrial Union is not affiliated with the Bermuda Trade Union Congress.
How can this be one of their “concerns”? Whoever thinks this is something to be “concerned” about is a spoiled brat.
Minors is making herself look ridiculous, and at the current rate she’s doing it several times a week.
She can also tell the trade union congress to kiss her a** that means NO!! Oh great defender.
N.B. The Bermuda Trade Union Congress (BTUC) boycotted last year’s Labour Day Celebrations which were held on Monday, September 5, 2011.
However, in spite of the boycott by the BTUC, the Bermuda public celebrated Labour Day on the first Monday in September at Union Square.
By the way, a good time was held by all in attendance.
Or maybe the BTUC were politely protesting the recent actions of another labour union.
May 5th is the traditional day that communist / socialist countries celebrate.
So the US and Canada celebrate labour day on the first Monday in September; Syria, Cuba, Pakistan, Bahrain, the Soviet Union and other communist, formally communist or other socialist regimes celebrate May Day on the 1st to mark International Workers’ Day. The UK has announced that the bank holiday previously celebrated on May 1st will be moved to October “to lengthen the tourist season”. Seems to me my friend, that there is more than just a statement being made here… This government and the people that blindly support it frighten me.
Thanks Laverne Furbert for the clarification. Do you know the reason for the change? I can only assume that as Sept. 5th falls in the summer holidays for the teachers that it doesn’t feel like a vacation day already.
I agree that we have more important things to deal with right now. On a personal note, I also would prefer having it in September.
Labour day is a holiday in many countries – but the day it is celebrated is different around the world. The US and Canada celebrate it in Sept; Jamacia late May; Trinadad in June; Australia and NZ in October; but it is on May 1 in the mother country UK (as well as Cuba, Syria and numerous countries in Europe). I say keep is different than the mother country.
Jackmon – the Mother Country celebrates on the first Monday in May not May 1 and it is Called May Bank Holiday – that is nothing to do with Labour Day. But then again they might just leave the Sept holiday if it is an election year and promises everyone an additional holiday – then in a couple of years it will get moved back to September so we can all go away and grab all the Labour Day
sales and get ripped of at the airport to help the Government and NOT the local retailers.
Furthermore, the conservatives just had the May 1st bank holiday moved to October. A rally is being held on May 1st in London to oppose this move…
Please leave the holidays as they are, as if the people of Bermuda do not have enough to worry about!
There is only one day that I care about this year………ELECTION DAY……….
What the heck… As an Island we have so many other pressing issues to attend to! Of all the things we could be working to resolve I can’t believe that any govt official is entertaining this at such a time… BTCU needs to go sit down somewhere. SMDH.
THIS IS DUMB!
Oh for heavens sake!!!! Just please stop with the rubbish talks and have some real talk about our current problems. A change in holiday is the least of our worries, minister and those that submitted the request. Leave the holiday where it is, as it’s perfect and fine in September. Can we please focus on the issues at hand: The economy, crime,unemployment and a failed education system, amongst other things that are driving this little island of our down the darn tubes! The last thing i want to hear about right now is moving a public holiday. You’ve made enough changes in that department already!
Minors is considering a legitimate request made by the majority of Bermuda’s unions. Clearly she should at least discuss it.
Personally,I disagree with any change,and don’t think it is a go.
I am sleeping on the couch tonight because Rockfish#2 accuses me of agreeing with the Defender!!
I would suggest that Minister Minors be invited to perform at the next Just for Laughs……she has all the makings of a fine stand up comedian as she can say the dumbest things with a straight face…..figures a Union would be worried about when to celebrate a day off….how about making it on a universal sick day…..
I like your last comment. I’m sure when they want a day off they use one of the 14 weeks annual – ahem – “sick” leave anyway.
If this is what the BTUC feels is important then I expect we’ll not see any labour disputes in the near future from the employee sector that it covers.
I hope the Minister remembers what has happened with past changes in holidays and declines the request.
The Minister is doing the right thing. The request was made to her by the TUC and she has placed it on the table to be discussed by the Labour Advisory Council which is made up of representatives from unions, the Bermuda Employers Council and the Hotel Employers of Bermuda.
To suggest that “there are more pressing issues to discuss” is ludicrous. As David Allen used to say, “some of us can chew gum and talk at the same time”.
I guess you’ve all forgotten the recent town hall meeting held at Dalton E. Tucker Primary School. For those who are interested in discussing the state of the economy with Minister Minors and other cabinet ministers can do so on Wednesday, January 25th at the Leopards Club. No doubt the Premier will be there as well so you all can voice your concerns to her as well.
Hopefully Mr. Swan will hold some more town hall meetings as well, for those that prefer reality.
Yes, LaVerne, but Minister Minors can’t “chew gum and talk” at the same time.
If you ask her to do anything other than drool she’s completely over challenged.
By the way, if Minister Minors is in charge of economy and industry, why have they sent Wayne up to NY to talk about relocating hedge funds here? Is it because she’s incompetent and clueless?
She’s left behind in charge of overseeing public holidays, while Furbert goes up there and has a go at her job.
You are an ass, through and through.
Minister Minors has responsibility for the local economy and labour.
Minister Furbert has responsiblity for business development.
Do you all really do nothing more than complain.
Keep it up, people recognise hate when they see it.
She’s is a waste of time and resources. She makes bad decisions (like earlier this week). She achieves nothing (a year wasted as Min Tourism, and now wasting more time on whether or not to change the date of a public holiday). You can call me an ass, I suppose, but we all know who the ass is.
Per LF ”As David Allen used to say, “some of us can chew gum and talk at the same time”.”
It was Alex Scott who used to use that worn out cliche NOT David Allen .. Neither David Allen or the rest of us can remember (or understood) anything that he ever said anyway .
Now that I think of it , I could be talking about Paula too ……..
Laverne, maybe you should attend and sit on the panel, oh no, you were fired from the Senate…oh well…
would someone please hurry up and vote this Government out. One stupid decision after another. No good reason too do this, if it aint broke ………
Look here. Not there.
You lot do just as you like to us. Minister Minors you better wake up and do what is wright don’t just let your boss shove S*** in your face and run with it. Dam!!!
@Laverne Furbert: “To suggest that ‘there are more pressing issues to discuss’ is ludicrous.” Are you serious?!! Now I know for certain that your marbles are seriously free-floating. Since when is changing a public holiday a matter to be put to the forefront when the economy of the country is in the toilet, tourism is collapsing, gangs are holding the population hostage, international businesses are leaving the country in droves, the fear of unemployment is panicking many Bermudians and the government is continually revealing its ineptitude at every turn? Having Labour Day in September makes perfect sense, especially for parents who need that extra day off to get their children ready for the new school year. What next…change Cup Match to June so teachers can get yet another break in the middle of the school year?
Dude, seriously, who put this issue at teh “Forefront”..
Was there some press conference or some big announcement? NO!
The Minister had a meeting, said it would be discussed with the wider community, and then decided.
Thats it. She didn’t propse it, didn’t push it to the foregroud, nothing.
Unless you are suggesting that she shouldn’t attend meetings with Labour unions and ignore their requests. That woudl be ludicrous.
Minister Minors said, “While there was astounding support for the proposal”
Astounding support? This island is so divided now there can be no astounding support for anything. I’d never even heard of this pressing matter. Where is this silent majority representing “astounding support”?
I think it was “Astounding Support” from the Trade Union Conference….
As for the people, doubtful this will go anywhere, though its always good to see people getting all worked up.
I say leave it, this holiday is the end of summer for most Bermudians because after this everyone goes back to work and school. And for the Minister I’m not along with many other people not a part of this “astounding support”.
Funny how quickly this rubbish is brought to cabinet now if they could amend the human rights act as quickly they might be more Progressivemn the P ya think!
8 votes Verne thinks she speaks for government they booted her out!
I’m an outsider looking in and this issue,like the comments from the lady who was dumped as a Senator,make me laugh.This little island is rotting with crime,bankrupt and lacks leadership.The country lost several more jobs this week and yet the leader and “others” continue to waste thousands on overseas junkets.
Why can’t they leave good alone? Another long summer weekend hacked from us Bermudians!!!
I like it where it is. I get a day off to spend with my kids right before they go back to school.
If you want to give us May 1st off – give us May 1st off. Don’t be moving the holidays around.
I wasn’t impressed when I found out through the local media that Labour Day maybe moved from September to May.
Please leave it as it is.
It has always been in September, and I feel it should remain there.
I just don’t understand this. I thought we were interested in jump starting the tourism product? I guess our American guests, family, friends that typically visit during that weekend do not matter. Yikes!!!!!
Oh well let’s just change it because it was suggested. Oh come on…. spare me this one. Leave it alone.
It’s very sad that we that blog on matters the concern Bermuda, have little to no empathy for anyone or anything…holidays are in remembrance of a time in history or an event. Have any of you took the time to educate yourself on the history of the labour movement, so that you can understand why the unions would want the date changed..before you commented..
It appear as if no matter the subject just spew nasty vile comments, because one can. People fought hard and lost their lives for the rights of working people, even for this holiday, and all we can think of is our self. If shame is to come to Bermuda, this is the reason..
Rhonda,
Does every labor union in Bermuda support changing the date?
If not,please explain why!
Wow. The stupidity of decisions made by the government….I don’t even know what to say anymore.