By JUAN MCCARTNEY, NG Senior Reporter, juan@nasguard.com

Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) President Robert Farquharson on Friday expressed outrage at what he said is the government's decision to exclude the union from the committee to explore the privatization of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC).

He accused the government of moving away from its policy of "transparency and openness" regarding BTC's privatization.

"We wish to inform members of the public of the sequence of events that has led to the BCPOU putting this matter into the public domain," said Farquharson at a press conference.

He added that the BCPOU believes the exclusion of union representatives from the special privatization committee is an "injustice of the highest possible order."

Farquharson claimed that in early March, BCPOU executives were verbally informed of the appointment of the privatization committee.

According to Farquharson, the union responded on March 10 by writing a letter to the Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing - who is also responsible for the public service - requesting confirmation of the appointment of a special committee. He claimed, however, that Laing never responded to the letter.

But Laing challenged this assertion on Friday.

He admitted that while he did not respond to the BCPOU in writing, he said he had spoken to Farquharson about the union's inclusion in the privatization process.

Farquharson said yesterday, that in a letter dated March 14, Timothy Donaldson informed the BCPOU that he was appointed chairman of the committee and intended to consult with the union on "relevant issues pertaining to the process."

On March 18, BTC Executive Chairman Julian Francis issued a staff notice informing all BTC employees of the appointment of the privatization committee and the names of its members, according to Farquharson. He added that no BCPOU members were appointed to the committee.

Farquharson said the union's response was to seek to have the matter addressed by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who is the minister with responsibility for BTC, but instead the union was directed to speak with Laing. He said as a result, on March 25, the union wrote another letter to Laing asking for details of the committee, including why no BCPOU representative was appointed to it. The union also wanted to know who on the committee was looking out for the interests of BCPOU members.

The BCPOU president said Laing has yet to respond to the letter.

The stance the government is taking is in stark contrast to the position of the last Ingraham administration, according to Farquharson. He said when the government first announced plans to privatize BTC in December 1998, it "embraced" the union's involvement and participation, going so far as to send then BCPOU President Shane Gibson to a training program to better prepare BTC and the BCPOU for privatization.

Farquharson called that move "a clear indication that the union and [BTC] were in a partnership and as a major stakeholder in the process of privatization, both sides would have a seat around the table and be involved in all discussions and all negotiations as a member of the privatization committee."

He said the Christie administration adopted a similarly cooperative stance.

"As the BCPOU does not have a representative on the recently appointed privatization committee, we have concluded that the government of The Bahamas has changed its policy of inclusion of stakeholders and moved away from the position of transparency and openness in decision making," Farquharson said.

In an interview with the Guardian, Laing said that the government plans to have two committees, one to negotiate with Bluewaters Communications Holdings Ltd. in respect to its proposal to buy BTC. He said a second committee, which would serve in an advisory capacity to the government, would give recommendations on what comes out of the negotiating process.

Laing said that he will chair the advisory committee which will include several other cabinet ministers, a number of other high-level government officials, people representing private sector interests and representatives from the BCPOU and the Bahamas Communications and Public Management Union (BCPMU).

"The committee which I chair is the committee which the negotiating committee will have to report to with respect to any developments from their negotiations prior to them being considered by the government," he said.

"If you're talking about having the union included on the committee that is going to have the authority to provide and set a mandate for negotiations on privatization or to approve matters that go before the government for consideration, then that is the committee on which they will be included. I explained that to Robert Farquharson."

Laing said the government is not trying to do anything other than to establish a process that allows for the most effective and efficient means of proceeding with the privatization.

Talks between Bluewaters and the privatization committee are expected to begin next week.