On Thursday, disgruntled members of the Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) based in Grand Bahama staged a public protest outside the union’s Freeport headquarters, delivering a seven-day ultimatum to BPSU President Kimsley Ferguson to address a cascade of allegations ranging from financial mismanagement to deliberate violations of the union’s constitution.
Dozens of demonstrators assembled outside the BPSU Building just after midday, chanting slogans calling for Ferguson’s ouster as they laid out a series of long-simmering grievances that have split the union’s leadership. Core among the complaints are claims that Ferguson has failed to publish required biannual financial reports stretching all the way back to 2019, left thousands of dollars in mandatory National Insurance Board (NIB) contributions unpaid, and allowed the union’s key properties in both Grand Bahama and New Providence to operate without active insurance coverage.
Latoya Cartwright-Jones, BPSU’s Northern Region Area Vice President, told reporters that Ferguson has stonewalled repeated requests from elected executive board members for months, refusing to initiate consultations or open lines of communication about the mounting concerns. Rank-and-file members and leadership alike are demanding full access to financial records that detail how union dues and funds have been allocated, clarity on why NIB payments remain outstanding years after they were due, and an explanation for the lapsed insurance coverage on union-owned buildings.
“We are not making baseless accusations,” Cartwright-Jones explained. “We are simply asking him to produce receipts for every expenditure, to account for why NIB payments have not been made, and to explain why our properties still do not have insurance coverage. When we raise concerns about misappropriation, we are referring directly to the failure to direct union funds to the mandatory and necessary purposes they were allocated for.”
According to Cartwright-Jones, the seven-day deadline is set under BPSU’s own governing constitution. If Ferguson fails to provide satisfactory responses within the timeframe, she said, the union will move forward with formal disciplinary measures that could include suspension via a general membership vote, removal from office, and mandatory accountability processes for the alleged violations. She also issued a formal call for the Bahamas Ministry of Labour to intervene in the dispute, noting that independent audits of union finances have been pending since 2019.
Anton Michael King, a shop steward representing the Gaming Board, amplified the allegations, claiming that tens of thousands of dollars in employee contributions earmarked for NIB are unaccounted for. He also questioned why the union’s democratically elected treasurer has been blocked from accessing BPSU’s financial records and official bank accounts for multiple years, a direct violation of the union’s standard governance protocols.
King added another serious allegation: that Ferguson failed to renew insurance coverage on union properties even after receiving and depositing an insurance payout for damage to BPSU buildings caused by Hurricane Dorian. “You took the entire insurance check to Nassau,” King said, directly referencing the president’s actions.
Additional shop stewards representing three major government departments echoed these concerns. Taronya Wildgoose of Social Services, Eric Bastian of the Department of Agriculture and Marine Resources, and Athony Francis of the Post Office all outlined their own grievances, including that gas pumps purchased with union funds remain non-operational years after acquisition, that vehicles approved for purchase by the general membership years ago have never been acquired, and that multiple board appointments have been made without the required approval of the BPSU executive board.
“Our members have a fundamental right to answers, to full transparency, and to demand that the union’s constitution is respected at all times,” Bastian said.
The demonstration drew support from leaders of other major Bahamian trade unions, including Bahamas Nurses Union Vice President William Bartlett and Charlice Ellis of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union, both of whom were in attendance to stand with protesting BPSU members.
As of press time, multiple attempts by The Tribune to reach Ferguson for comment on the allegations, including phone calls and written messages, have gone unanswered.
