Yesterday union officials were expected to meet with Minister responsible for Broadcasting Tommy Turn-quest, to find out which employees would remain as the BCB moves toward becoming a public broadcasting network.

Fourteen employees are expected to be disengaged at the Northern Service in Grand Bahama and the entity will remain in operation for about another year before a final determination is made on what will be done.

Darville described the action by Government as "reprehensible, despicable, unprofessional and is not the way our Government should behave.

"We would like to express our total support and solidarity with the employees of the BCB, specifically those employees with the Northern Service," Darville said.

"The facility in Grand Bahama has over the years, provided an incredible service to this community and it is an insult across the board to the inhabitants for this to take place without a broad base consultation with the people of Grand Bahama."

Darville added that courtesy was not even afforded to the employees of the station on a timely basis to discuss what would happen to them.

"I have a lot of sympathy for what is taking place with respect to the economy in the country, but we are in a more precarious predicament than any other place in The Bahamas."

"We have a situation where people have not been accustomed or have not been trained to be self-supporting. When they lose their job for which they have a particular skill it means that there is very little that they can do, because they have not been trained in other areas of providing for themselves. Basically they will have to go on the unemployment line."

Darville said that both the chairman of the BCB, Michael Moss and Minister Responsible for Broadcast, Tommy Turnquest, have not shown any compassion for the employees.

He lamented over the fact that Grand Bahama's unemployment rate is climbing and there are those who have not even had an opportunity to receive employment because there are no jobs available.

"We are on the verge of abject poverty. We have persons who are sleeping in vehicles, finding a place in the pine barrens to live, simply because they cannot afford to pay for an apartment. They have no one to fall back on and no extended family who can support them, and even if they had that they are suffering terribly. In the outskirts of the Freeport area you find the most dehumanizing situations under which people have to live. As a Christian nation and a democratic nation, this should not be."

He reiterated that the employees of ZNS are doing a great job and have helped build the station to what it is today.

"The packages being offered to them is an insult to the many professionals there and if this happens, the Government would simply be setting them up for total devastation of their morale and character."

This, Darville said, could have far reaching implications as depression, suicide and attempted suicide is on the rise.

Though appreciative that the Government has agreed to keep the organization as is until some time next year, Darville believes that it was a political gesture.

"The whole situation has been dealt with in a very dehumanizing manner and it should never happen in a democratic society. How could the Government have the moral resolve to go now and represent its people. They make the laws about these things and they intervene through the Labour Department when private companies do this sort of thing, but who intervenes when they are doing it."

Darville was also in disbelief that the Grand Bahama Minis-ters did not do more to agitate for ZNS employees of the Northern Service. He said that the decision should be reversed to preserve the quality of life for all residents in an already struggling economy.

Meanwhile, Minister of National Security reported that 17 persons from the management of the BCB and 16 line staff had applied for the packages offered.

SOURCE

(Photo: The Freeport News)