BPSU & BIU Call ‘Urgent’ Meetings
[Updated] Both the BPSU and BIU have called meetings for tomorrow [Feb.3].
The Bermuda Public Services Union [BPSU] called an “emergency membership meeting” for 3.30pm at the New Testament Church of God on Dundonald Street.
In addition, Bermuda Industrial Union President Chris Furbert announced that the BIU will be holding an urgent meeting for all government workers tomorrow at 10:00 am.
The meeting will be held at the Heritage Worship Centre on Dundonald Street.
A statement issued by the BIU said, “The purpose of the meeting is to discuss a proposal from Government for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Hon. Paula Cox, JP, MP, Premier, will be in attendance.
“The meeting is expected to last no longer than two hours. The Government to update the public regarding bus and ferry service while the meeting is being conducted.”
Update 6.33pm: The Ministry of Transport said they “will work to ensure there is as little disruption as possible to bus and ferry services tomorrow during the BIU meeting scheduled to take place between 10 am and 12 pm.”
Time is here to chop, chop, chop the civil service. HELLO SOMEBODY!!!!
I doubt anyone will be laid-off or fired before the next election is concluded. It would be political suicide.
I think its more likely that Government is going to ask them to accept some sort of reduction in hours or work the same hours at a discounted rate or something like that. Most likely, everyone will retain their jobs; at least until the conclusion of the next election. If there are little to no indicators that the Bermuda economy will bounce back post election then I believe the Government will start to trim its payroll cost further.
Ride
@Ride – totally spot on – was thinking the exact same thing, especially if the meeting involves a new collective bargaining agreement
Is it “A Urgent Meeting” with an “Agedna’?
I think so Dawg! Hey, any chance I can borrow your union ID? I lost mines.
Does this mean that there will be an interuption in the bus service at 3:30pm? Isnt this the same time school closes and people are knocking off? An interuption at this time is not anecessary
BPSU members do not drive buses
Thank you, I appreciate your inforamtation
please correct me if i am wrong, but i believe that the BIU represents the bus workers. their meeting is scheduled for 10am, so it shouldn’t cause too much disruption.
you are not serious its not necessary. Government is goingt ot cut pay or have us work a 4 day work week are you serious asking a question like that……
how about the union ask furbert about his job?
how about Mr.Furbert asking the Ms. Paula Cox cut her pay and start from the top why start at the bottom from the little people.
“The Government to update the public regarding bus and ferry service while the meeting is being conducted.”
This is ridiculous.
Why should there be an island wide disruption in public transpiration due to a union meeting?
Is there anywhere else in the world where this happens?
Can’t those bus and ferry workers still go to work and receive a briefing on the meeting at another time?
We are supposed to be a top notch financial centre and tourist destination. We cannot suspend transportation due to a union meeting.
Again, where else in the world does this happen?
True, the tourists are swarming about the island this time in february and cant forget the 10am rush of traffic
It will be hard for workers to argue that things are so slow that they must make cut backs if they can afford to take off 2-3hours to attend a meeting
Ok maybe not relevant for the tourists but extremely irritating when you are trying to take your premature baby to a doctors appointment!!
You bermudian’s don’t understand nothing about whats going on. Put yourself in are shoe’s and stop making stupid comment that you nothing about.
I smell trouble. I guess Burgess shot his mouth off to much at the Town Hall meeting. Politics ohh what a tangled web we weave when we try to deceive.
Hearing rumors of a possible 5% salary cut for civil servants…..
That would be a hard sell in a good day. Now that Government mimisters have refused to take a pay cut themselves, I would love to see them try to force this one on the workers.
Only stating what I’ve been told from a family member in the CS. Apparently that’s been making the rounds for a while. Treat it like you would any other rumor…
What, as gospel truth?
If that floats your boat….
5% is nothing .. they’re still going to have to borrow to meet payroll. It’s going to have to be at least 20% for it to make a meaningful difference.
With 1000′s of rental units sitting empty and many more to come , once the property owners and service providers finally get it an do what they eventually will HAVE to do a 20% cut for government workers will be do-able.
In the ‘new era’ anyone with a job will be considered lucky. Smart service providers and landlords will be fighting for the $
Yes, that’s it-they want the civil servants to take a 5% pay-cut. This pisses me off for so many reasons. As a civil servant, I’m tired of the public thinking we’re raking in big bucks and sitting on easy street. That applies to the ones at the top-most of us are hard working folk who after deductions aren’t pulling in mega bucks at all-quite the opposite!!! If you look at my desk and then look at my boss’ desk you’ll see a very big difference with me having tons more work than she does but with her pulling in $10,000 more a month than me. Before anyone says it-NO, she doesn’t have a stressful job, either.
When people hear ‘civil servant’ those are the people they think of-the ones at the top. They don’t think of people who are just clerical staff like myself with stressful jobs and unremarkable salaries. If there’s to be any pay cuts, they need to start with the ones at the top with the over-inflated salaries. Us little people are just that-we don’t have any clout or power. we have no say in how Government money is spent and grumble just as much as the public when we see waste, so why are we resented so much just because we’re ‘civil servants’?
Also-speaking of waste-at least half of these GP cars need to go! On top of those at the top having over-inflated salaries, many have the perk of a GP car to boot! These people aren’t using those cars solely for business purposes and we all know it! Take away at least half of them, sell them and out the money in Gov’t coffers plus then save on gas and maintenance in the long run.
I am so disgusted with this Gov’t. That’s the other thing-as a civil servant we just have to keep our mouths shut even when we see how much money is being wasted or that things aren’t right. It’s not like we can go running to the press with it. We suffer in silence forced to keep quiet and then get hated on by the public to boot. We didn’t make these rules and again, most of us are powerless to do a damn thing about what Gov’t is doing with the public’s money so I wish the public would stop picking on us. We have mouths to feed just like most of you. How about Paula Cox take a pay cut since she’s the one who got us into this mess? Yeah, like that would ever happen…
Mayan, I hear you loud and clear. I was a civil servant myself, and when I hear the term I don’t think of those at the top with the high salaries, I think of those doing the work at the lower end, under appreciated and the backbone of every department. If this is the case, and there’s no Minister salary cut, should lead to interesting fallout…..
@Mayan…well said!! The public don’t know the half of it and civil servants aren’t allowed to talk!!
Brilliant post Mayan.
@Mayan – Well said and so very true for us lower down CS!!! and yes any cuts needs to start at the TOP – minister salaries, minister cars, minister perks, and, and, and,………..This govt should LEAD BY EXAMPLE……..but that is another fairy tale that will never come true!
well said
Mayan,
Your comments regarding GP cars is spot on.
Last Sunday at approximately 515 pm, the speaker of the House was driving a GP car on Horseshoe Road.
1. Why does he need one.
2. The House was not in session.
OK, I hear you, Mayan. But try this one on for size- my husband lost his job four years ago. I’m the only wage earner in our house. We have financial obligations, just like everyone else, so you think it would be okay for us to take a pay cut of 8% merely because I make more than you??? Will my landlord of my not posh apartment take 8% less rent, will my bank take 8% less on our car loan, will my child’s school accept 8% less tuition but still allow him 100% of his education????? If we as the BPSU do not stand united, then They have us by the balls. You can’t know everyone else’s circumstances, and it’s unthinking to say the very least to assert that all of us in upper management sit on our asses and don’t work hard. Some of us are STILL paying off the student loans for the education that we got to GET the jobs that we have. Most of Us don’t belong to any social clubs, many of us haven’t had an off-island vacation for a couple of YEARS, so cut the hating on management.
Here’s a shoe that might fit some, though hopefully not you, Mayan. How about the worker bees that ‘extend’ their vacations with sick days? I haven’t had a sick day in two years. Know why? Because I HAVE work to do, I HAVE deadlines to meet, and there isn’t anyone else who can do what I do, no one else can pick up my slack. Why I get paid what I do, by the way. Here’s another one- the first face the public sees of the Civil Service is usually the Worker Bee. SO many times we hear that the public has been greeted rudely or served poorly. That DOES come from management, but rather management managing with too light a hand. Management not holding rude-a$$ employees accountable for their actions. So be careful, VERY careful what you ask for. I do my own correspondence, process my own payments, answer my own phones. If Worker Bees aren’t good at what they do, they, like all of us, should be subject to the axe. The Civil Service is not welfare, no one ‘deserves’ a job because they’re in need. Everyone deserves a job who is willing to work for it. Think about what you’re saying before you blurt it out there. Not all of us in upper management fit the profile of what you describe, most of us don’t, and just because we’re getting paid more doesn’t mean we can necessarily better afford a pay cut, and it CERTAINLY doesn’t mean that we DESERVE one.
Ask someone you know about the expression ‘crabs in a bucket’. THAT is what you’ve become, and frankly, I’d rather stick together and fight this one, wouldn’t you?
SMDH at some peoples’ mentality…
Brother Chris “Elma Fudd” Furbert wants all members to weally weally weally show up at this a this meeting. LoL!!
Flikel, maybe you should apply for a job as a proofreader for the Royal Gazette, Bermuda Sun, the Toronto Star, or even the New York Times. You seem to be a person who pays attention to detail. Maybe even one of the major publishing companies could use you skill.
You left out the most glaring example of the need for a proof reader – the BIU including the Workers’ Voice.
By the way it is “your” not “you”, so add in LaVerne Furbert.
“your skill”
jt—looks like an overlap!
Defender/8 votes,
Delete–you skill.
Insert–your skill.
I do not understand your point.
A union meeting should cause no disruption in public transport. Again, please answer my question, where else in the entire world does this happen?
why dont you dry up and blow away in the breeze? no one pays you any mind , you are done .
BERMUDA WIKILEAKS CABLE SAYS IT A;LL
ANYMORE SAID
DE GOOD LORD DOESNT SLEEP
JUST 2 FUNNY {_”_}
Time to get told to do more with less. When JP MP’s get to do less with more.
Lead by example.
But they already have… on both counts. Far more damage done with a greatly reduced level of intelligence and they have clearly lead by example!
They seem extremely efficient in that area.
I saw Chris Furbert on television , he had approximarely $60,000 in chips. Obviously, he has job security !
What happened to divisions 4, 5 and 9??
Brothers from divisions 4, 5 and 9, Brother Furbert has spoken to his other brothers, and you are not his brothers from another mother. Too bad, I’ll set up a meeting with Brother Burgess, he is an expert in job retention, although perhaps not for much longer.
different union retard…and those divisions are workers in the private sector
It was a joke. Bermudians and irony just don’t get along.
Why is it always an emergency meeting when one is called?
guess they didn’t find a way not to inconvenience anyone! buses not running while people are stranded. ridiculous! (as usual)
Again I ask, where else in the world does this happen?
A top tier financial centre and tourist destination has its public transporation shut down due to a union meeting.
This is crazy.
Can’t they have a few meetings, on different days and at different times, to accommodate everyone?
If workers are still unable to attend, perhaps they can receive a briefing on the contents of the meeting.
oohhhhh, now i understand why the civil servants (Government Administration Bldg/Global House) are so unpleasant when you have to deal with them
I have been there many times and have not experienced such. Perhaps the issue is with you.
Meeting to last no longer than 2 hours?
Why is it 4 hours later and no buses are running? Nice long lunch for everyone while the rest of us suckers stand around waiting is it?!!
@ Ella…I agree! Some of these people are real sourpusses- especially the staff at the Immigration Department!!! I was having an issue and left a message on one of the Manager’s answering machine. After no response after two days, I showed up in person. She actually had the nerve to tell me she doesn’t listen to her voice mail messages because she doesn’t have the time to call anybody back. Are you kidding me??? I wonder how much she’s paid to ignore the clients that pay her salary!!!