The Bermuda Industrial Union will hold a weekly one-day protest against union decertification laws, it has confirmed.

In a statement released yesterday, a BIU spokeswoman said the protest will start from Monday, September 13. The action was approved following a meeting of members at BIU headquarters on Union Square yesterday afternoon.

The move follows two days of protest on Monday and Tuesday which saw some services disrupted as unionised workers walked off the job.

The BIU has maintained that the action is not a strike and that, under the Constitution, anyone has a right to protest.

The spokeswoman said: “Under Section 10 – protection of freedom of assembly and association of the Bermuda Constitution, we will exercise our right.

“Under this protection, a weekly protest will take effect as of the week of September 13.”

The spokeswoman said the protest is against a single clause of a Labour Relations Act that was passed in the House of Assembly last December which continued to allow non-unionised members of a bargaining unit to have a vote on decertification.

But in a statement, a Government spokeswoman said: “As the Premier stated in his August 20 letter to the BIU president, the decertification provisions in the law are the same as they have been since the May of 2000 when brought into force under the first PLP government.

“All other sections of the law strengthen the hands of workers and unions, so the claims of the Government not representing workers and unions are 100 per cent false.

“The BIU has supported the PLP in every election since, and given the laws on decertification today are the same as they were in 2003, 2007, 2012, 2017 and 2020 it would make no logical sense for the BIU to withdraw support from the PLP over this issue.”

Mr Furbert has maintained that the union opposed the rule when it was introduced by the UBP government in 1998, and that the recent overhaul of labour legislation was an opportunity for the PLP government to right a wrong.

The BIU spokeswoman said the union was encouraging other trade unions and members of the public to join the protest.

She added: “We have also been contacted by one of our international affiliates and we will be reaching out to the others for their support.”

The spokeswoman said the protests will continue “until the Government comes back to the table in good faith to engage in dialogue to reach a fair resolution of this matter”.

The Government has stated it has no intention of amending the law.

It also hit back at claims by the BIU that Jason Hayward, the minister of labour, failed to contact the unions before the legislation was tabled in the House of Assembly on December 10 last year.

According to a Government spokeswoman, PLP MP and former BIU president Derrick Burgess was acting as a go-between between the parties who “reached out to the Premier and minister of labour on behalf of the BIU and BPSU”.

The spokeswoman said Mr Burgess e-mailed Mr Hayward on December 8 recommending some amendments to one section of the draft bill.

According to the spokeswoman, Mr Hayward replied to Mr Burgess on the following day, outlining why Government believed the bill should not be amended.

The e-mail concluded: “Best practice under the democratic principles of trade unionism pursuant to the International Labour Organisation, and the practice that is consonant with international best practice, is that all members of a bargaining may vote.

“As a 60 per cent majority of workers in a proposed bargaining unit is required for automatically certify a union, the proposal to require two thirds majority vote to decertify would be inequitable and undemocratic.

“In this regards, while I note your objection and have considered the information that you have provided, I am satisfied that the current wording of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Bill is sufficient.”

The spokeswoman added: “This response is what triggered the Press Conference the following day on December 10 by the BIU and BPSU. It is untrue to say minister of labour did not get back to the unions. They did not like the response received.”