Axed staff mull legal action

FRIDAY, JUNE 3: Six staff axed from two  Government-owned golf courses look set to take legal action.

The staff from the Port Royal and Ocean View golf courses - all Bermuda Public Service Union members - are considering whether to go to an employment tribunal or take out a civil action in the courts.

Insiders said the axed staff members — some of whom have worked at Government courses for 20 years — are determined to fight back after the bombshell news was dropped on them on Tuesday.

The six were part of a dozen redundancies across the two courses, with the rest being members of the BIU.

Three members of the board of trustees told Port Royal staff they were being made redundant and had them escorted off the premises after they had collected their personal belongings.

No notice

One said: “This has affected managers to groundsmen — they were given no notice at all and all of them are understandably upset and angry.

“Board members just arrived at the course and told them — all the white collar workers will be claiming unfair dismissal. It’s yet to be decided how exactly they will do that, but they are determined to fight this.”

But Government hopes to redeploy the blue collar staff, with some already being offered other jobs.

Among the high-profile staff to go at Port Royal are general manager Bill Pitt, consultant Alan Douglas and course professional and teacher Judithanne Astwood.

None of them could be contacted for comment yesterday.

BPSU general secretary Ed Ball declined to comment on the redundancies.

But BIU president Chris Furbert said the union was “very concerned” about the job cuts and the union had held meetings with the BPSU over the redundancies.

But he added that the courses between them had notched up losses “in the millions”.

Mr Furbert said: “There is a provision for lay-offs and a provision for redundancy. What Government has said is there are a few jobs in other areas.

“Four or five of the six have now got jobs in other areas and we hope that will also be the case for the sixth.”

Mr Furbert, however, added that the retention of a highly-paid overseas consultant, while Bermudians had lost their jobs, was a worry.

He said: “I know the people involved here – one employee let go from my knowledge of Port Royal, he is Port Royal, but I’m not going to call his name.

“We have a consultant continuing to work. I don’t know exactly what this gentleman’s qualifications are. If we have a qualified Bermudian to do a job and we keep a foreigner on, you are going to get all sorts of flak for that.

“It’s hard, particularly in this current economic climate. If the goal is to get people trained to take over jobs, then we should do that.”

Mr Furbert added he was not aware of any plans to make more BIU members redundant at Government golf courses.

He said: “We are going to take it one day at a time.”

 The Ministry for Public Works, which is responsible for Government-owned golf courses, did not respond to requests for comment.