New leader sets out his vision for the BPSU

Kevin Grant, president of the Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU), said: “We need to empower our members so they are better prepared to face the economic downturn.

“When there is a downturn, people aren’t prepared financially or prepared career-wise. Unions can do their part by making sure our members have the ability to empower themselves. We have to keep revitalizing ourselves, people have to keep re-tooling so they can be better prepared for the future.”

He added that the union had recently held a session on resume writing for members so they can sell themselves in a changed job market.

Mr Grant said: “We can’t keep doing things the way we’ve always done. Any organization needs to look at how it can be more relevant and do things better and I believe we can do that.

“We want to provide good services for our members.”

And he added he aimed to work even more closely with other trades unions like the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU).

Mr Grant added: “We work with the BIU more and more now because we have blue collar and white collar workers in the same departments.

“I encourage working with our sister unions — that needs to be done more and more. There’s also the Bermuda Trades Union Congress, but there needs to be more subscription to it — it needs to be a strong entity. It’s strong now, but it could be even stronger.”

Mr Grant said that there was a stereotype about the civil service that “they sit around doing nothing”.

But he added: “I know a lot of people who are dedicated and committed, who work late and don’t get paid overtime because they take pride in their job and their career. They’re also committed to creating quality public services — that’s something that ultimately benefits everyone so there must be investment from all sectors. The government has to invest and we need unions who do the same thing.”

Mr Grant pointed out that members of the BPSU included social workers, civilian police staff and financial assistance staff.

He said: “They’re all part of the glue that holds society together — it’s far-reaching and the stability of our society needs these quality public services.”

Mr Grant — who took over the presidency only two months ago — added: “People have said I took over the job at a difficult time. But it’s an exciting time too and I’m getting a lot of encouragement from people.

“We’re very close to the edge in this country and if we don’t get it right, it’s going to be devastating.

“It’s a matter of being up for the challenge.”