Friday, July 24, 2009

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Container Port protest Troy Garvey, president of the Eight Mile Rock High School (EMRHS) Parents Teachers Association, has become nationally prominent since he exposed the alleged sexual molestation of two male students at that school. Over the past several months he has been ubiquitous, hopping around from press conference to press conference voicing his opinion on issues related to child abuse and crime in general. He has on occasions teamed up with the Rev. Glenroy Bethel, leader of the Grand Bahama-based activist group Families for Justice, to get his message across, and has done the same in New Providence with Bahamas Against Crime President Rev. C.B. Moss. Apparently convinced that he is now a force to be reckoned with, Garvey appears to have decided to use his "celebrity status" to become a freelance community activist. That's certainly the conclusion to be drawn from the spectacle that unfolded outside the gates of the Freeport Container Port Monday morning when four former Container Port employees staged a demonstration, using Garvey as their spokesperson. In fact, the four declined to speak to the media or even give their names. Garvey, however, had quite a lot to say, using the kind of incendiary language that's typical for union leaders making demands. Claiming that the four had been unfairly dismissed from their jobs, Garvey insisted that the protest would not end until their concerns were addressed. "We plan to protest until they hear us and afford us the opportunity to come and see them," Garvey told reporters. "It would be in their best interest to meet with us before this gets out of control." Fortunately, no one at the Container Port took that threat seriously, and neither should they have. Garvey is president of the Eight Mile Rock High PTA and not some powerful union, so why should Container Port officials believe that his threat of things possibly getting out of control was serious enough for them to summon him to a meeting. What's more, the fact that the demonstration fizzled and did not gain the traction that Garvey's rhetoric suggested would happen, strongly suggests that the reasons why Garvey claimed the four employees were dismissed lacked credibility. He said one of the employees was injured while performing her required duties and now has limited use of her leg, but she was laid off with no additional medical coverage from the company and has to depend on National Insurance for assistance. Another employee inhaled chemicals while at work and had to be hospitalized for a week, Garvey claimed, adding that a report "showed that the type of chemicals he had inhaled can cause erosion of the liver, cancer and other medical issues and he was dismissed with no cause." The Freeport Container Port has more than 760 employees, and the vast majority – if not all of them – will tell you that it is a great company to work for. In addition to paying exceptionally good salaries, it provides its workers with tremendous benefits, including health insurance covering major medical, life, dental, vision and long-term disability, for which the company pays 65 percent. It also pays 60 percent of the school fees of the children of employees. As president of the Eight Mile Rock High PTA, Garvey may not have been privy to this kind of information, but he should have at least made an attempt to ascertain the facts as to why those four employees were dismissed before allowing his mouth to utter threats that he knew he could not back up. In other words, he should have acted more responsibly. Thursday, June 25, 2009