Immigration officers expected back at work today

By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL

Freeport News Reporter

Officers of the Department of Immigration are expected to return to work today after staging a massive sick-out on Friday.

According to the vice president of the Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU) John Curtis, the officers who called in sick on Friday also did not report to work over the weekend. However, working on the weekend is optional and is considered overtime, so this was not counted as a form of industrial action.

"They return to work tomorrow... The president of the union will be dealing with this matter and the matter of their promotions with the Minister tomorrow morning," confirmed Curtis in a telephone interview with The Freeport News yesterday.

The sick-out by some 34 of the 47 immigration officers on staff was said to have affected the department's operations at the airport and harbour.

According to Curtis, the union did not orchestrate the sick-out," but was aware of what was taking place and was in support of its members.

He said the action was taken in a show of solidarity for their colleague, who they say was victimized when he was reassigned and stripped of his overtime duties last week following an incident that occurred while he was on duty at the airport. Curtis said officers in New Providence were also in support of the action, showing up for work, but staging a "go slow."

Shop steward Deron Brooks said he and his fellow officers strongly opposed the way in which the matter was handled, and the disciplinary actions taken against Prince.

"We stand firm in our resolution to assist Officer Prince and any other officer who is right and being unfairly taken advantage of. Today it is Officer Prince, tomorrow it could be any one of us," he said.

While Acting Assistant Director of Immigration Fausteen Major-Smith did confirm that officers had called in sick, but said they only numbered 10, and did not greatly impact the department's performance.

The Assistant Director said the department took the necessary steps to fill the void in staffing, by mobilizing our senior officers to the ports for the weekend.

"We have business as usual," she reported.

The officer at the centre of the matter spoke with The Freeport News on Friday and explained the events that occurred.

Prince said that while carrying out his regular duties of processing persons coming into the country, he found that one of the visitors who had entered on a private plane held the same occupation as his host, a business owner in Grand Bahama. As per the department's procedure, Prince said he was required to make certain inquiries, since the man said he was on vacation.

"When I found out his occupation, I explained to (his host) that anytime we have an individual that has an occupation similar to owners of the company they are coming to visit, officers will ask questions as to the purpose of the trip and other things, so for future reference it may be easier to call the office in advance and say, 'I have an individual who is coming in whose occupation is similar to mine, however, in this particular instance, he is coming in on vacation,'" he explained.

Prince said he asked the visitor if he could be excused for a while in order to contact his office to notify his supervisor about the entry.

While doing that, he said another visitor in that party encountered a problem with Customs officials involving a dog that he was attempting to bring in with him.

At this point, Prince said he then tried to call the Assistant Director of the department Major-Smith to notify her of what was taking place, but was unable to make contact with her.

By that time, he said the party had already decided that they would leave.

"The party said that they didn't want to stay anymore, they're tired of all these issues, they are leaving," he said.

Prince said he was instructed to write a report on the matter and at the time when he was supposed to begin working his overtime shift, he was told that he was being taken off the overtime roster.

He was informed that an investigation into the incident will be conducted and that his overtime stamp will be retained until the outcome of the investigation.

"On Thursday I was sent home from my overtime shift, I wasn't allowed to finish the shift... They asked me to turn in my stamp, which prevents me from working overtime," he said.

On Friday, the Director of Immigration, Vernon Bur-rows, came to Grand Bahama and held a meeting with Prince and the Deputy Director Major-Smith.

Prince said he was told that he was being reprimanded for not following his supervisor's instructions, which were to proceed with processing and clearing the visitors. Prince said that clearing them was never an issue and that he only made contact with the supervisor to notify her of the visitor's occupation.

Prince said he felt he was wrongfully disciplined and that his attempts to explain what really took place to Burrows were disregarded.

© 2008 The Freeport News