By TAMARA McKENZIE, Assistant News Editor, tamara@nasguard.com

Former president of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union Shane Gibson on Tuesday "condemned" the government for its "callous" actions taken by the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to terminate former President and CEO Leon Williams.

And even though Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham recently announced that it was the board's decision to terminate Williams and the move had nothing to do with the government or any of his ministers, Gibson told The Guardian yesterday that the decision appeared to be solely "political".

"As you know certain executive level positions at government corporations and at government-owned entities require the support of the minister to fill or to terminate," Gibson claimed. "Mr. Williams' position was one of those so a reasonable man could conclude that ultimately, it was a political decision to have Mr. Williams terminated. BTC's board was only used in the forefront to facilitate the minister's wishes."

Just two weeks ago, BTC announced that after having had the opportunity to assess the critical needs of the company over the last 10 months, the Board of Directors had determined that the company needed new leadership in order to address its numerous weaknesses and shortcomings.

"As such, the board has asked Leon Williams to resign as president and CEO," outlined BTC in a written statement.

However, the move did not sit well with Williams when he received his official termination letter last week, as he advised the press corps that he would take legal action against the company if he did not receive a more favorable severance offer, which reportedly included one year's pay and a benefits package.

Gibson noted yesterday that while Williams was doing and could have continued to do an excellent job as president and CEO of BTC, his visionary leadership style created the type of organization where planned succession was a part of his legacy.

"I don't think that there are any positions at BTC which will create a void on the departure of any employee," Gibson said. "I do however condemn the government of The Bahamas for the callous manner in which Leon Williams was treated after 40 years of stellar service to BaTelCo and BTC."

Prime Minister Ingraham told the press last week that with plans to privatize BTC and sell it to a private company by the end of 2008, they were not looking for anyone to fill Williams' vacancy.

Meanwhile, Gibson, also the Progressive Liberal Party MP for the Golden Gates constituency, warned that it was also a mistake for the workers of BTC to be marginalized and excluded from the privatization process by not being represented on the privatization committee.

"Based on the hundreds of employees losing their jobs directly as a result of decisions made by this present Free National Movement government, the workers' interest was not a priority in the past and I doubt the workers' interests will be a priority during this privatization exercise," Gibson said.

"No matter how good the FNM's public relations machinery is and no matter what sort of spin they put on what is being said, just look at their actions and not what they say. Ask Leon Williams, Abraham Butler, Theresa Burrows, Carolyn Kinglock, the construction workers who are now without work, Dr Desiree Cox, Rory Higgs, the former workers of Urban Renewal and the former contract workers whose contracts were not renewed by this government, if they believe that this FNM government will look out for the workers' interest."

According to Gibson, the contracted workers whose contracts were not renewed did nothing wrong.

"When you are given a contract for certain jobs in government it is understood that the contract would continue to be renewed unless it is breached by the employee," Gibson said. "That is why you have some contract employees working for government for more than 10 to 15 years. I'm sure the private sector is watching closely and will do likewise."

The planned privatization of BTC has been a long and drawn out process that started out with the first Ingraham administration. The initial plans to privatize BTC came with a massive downsizing exercise to prepare the then corporation to be sold. In 1999, approximately 500 employees accepted separation packages from the corporation, some receiving in excess of $250,000, which cost the government millions of dollars.

BTC currently employs more than 1,000 workers.