A TALE OF ON UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE BAHAMAS

Peter Turnquest, Dr. No, when he says no it’s no.  The only word in his vocabulary.

The PLP told the Government not to pop the champagne corks just yet on the employment figures. They were praising themselves because unemployment has dipped in the country.  Well you know the bit about lies, damn lies and statistics. It wasn’t a week since the figures were released that  The Tribune’s editor was able to point out that notwithstanding the drop in unemployment, the fact is more people were unemployed in The Bahamas today than when the FNM came to power. Uh oh!  The PLP issued the following statement.

Statement From Senator Fred Mitchell

Opposition Spokesman On Labour
On The Government’s Performance On Labour And Wages

For Immediate Release
15 August 2019

On Tuesday 13 August 2019, the Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes opined that the Government had begun a discussion on the raise of the minimum wage. Today, the public was treated to the answer from ‘Dr. No’ in the government, Peter Turnquest, who said that unequivocally, a minimum wage increase would not happen. So who are we to believe?

We draw this disagreement around the Cabinet table to the attention of the public as yet another sign of an FNM Government in disarray.

Members of the Cabinet are unable to get their policies aligned with one another.

This is inexplicable.

The increase in the minimum wage was last ordered by the Minister of Labour Shane Gibson under the PLP in 2015; the increase was 40%. This was done in order to soften the effects of implementing the VAT, to ease the burden of new taxation. The same ought to have been done by this government in the face of their 60% VAT hike. 

Indeed the PLP is proposing to go further and that is to work toward a liveable wage for employees in this country.

The facts now also show that notwithstanding all the crowing from the rafters about the drop in the unemployment figures, the PLP was right to warn them in our statement not to pop the champagne corks too early. It turns out that the number of people who are unemployed in the country is greater than when the FNM came to office in 2017. It turns out that economically, we are simply marking time and standing still. The so-called growth in the economy is turning out to be fiction.

The Progressive Young Liberals use the phrase: “ No lie lasts forever”. 

It certainly seems that as slow is it may be, the truth is coming out about the deceits of the Free National Movement.

End