My fellow Bahamians,
I want to speak to you directly tonight. I don’t need any third party between the conversation of me and you.
I know many of you have been hearing different things these past few days. You’ve heard talk about the unions, the Government, about what was said and what wasn’t. I know there’s been confusion and some concern.
So tonight, I want you to hear it directly from me, from Brave, not from anyone else.
When my Government came to office in 2021, we met a country still recovering from crises.
The economy was fragile.
Thousands of Bahamians were out of work. Public finances were under strain. And within the public service, morale was low.
Salaries had been stagnant. Promotions were delayed. Contract workers were stuck in limbo. Pensioners were struggling to live on fixed incomes that hadn’t been adjusted in years.
That was the reality we met.
Workers across our islands, teachers, nurses, line staff, uniformed officers, administrators, had gone too long without progress.
We knew we couldn’t fix everything at once, but we made a promise to start putting Bahamian workers first again.
And we did.
Over the past four years, your Government has worked steadily to restore fairness, dignity, and opportunity for workers.
We restored annual increments in the public service, those small but important step increases that reward years of service. For thousands of public officers, that meant more money in their pockets every year and an acknowledgment of their dedication.
We raised the national minimum wage for the first time in seven years, from $210 to $260 a week. That single decision increased take-home pay by nearly a quarter for the lowest-paid workers in this country. For many families, it meant an extra bag of groceries, a school uniform, or a light bill paid on time.
We negotiated and signed over 59 labour agreements, more than any administration in modern Bahamian history.
Many of those contracts had expired for years. Those agreements provided new wage increases, better allowances, modernized benefits, and clear career paths.
We delivered promotions and reclassifications for hundreds of officers who had been left behind for nearly a decade. Some waited ten, even twelve years, for that letter saying, “You have been promoted.” That day finally came.
We expanded health insurance coverage so that every government employee now has access to care and protection for their families.
We increased pensions for retired public officers, focusing on those receiving the least, because they were the ones struggling the most.
We regularized hundreds of temporary workers through the Public Service Professional Engagement Programme, including school board workers who had been waiting for years for stability and recognition. Many of these individuals had been working faithfully without job security. Today, they are permanent, pensionable employees, with full benefits, access to credit, and a path to retirement.
We expanded opportunities for young Bahamians through Labour on the Blocks, Labour on the Campus, and the National Apprenticeship Programme, connecting thousands of job seekers to real employers and helping them build skills and independence.
We invested in technical and vocational training through BTVI, so more Bahamians could gain the skills to fill the new jobs being created in tourism, construction, technology, aviation, and maritime industries.
And we changed the tone. We replaced neglect with respect, silence with dialogue.
Every single one of these steps was about fairness, not politics, not promises, but progress that workers could feel in their pay, see in their benefits, and believe in once again.
And still, with all of this progress, I was not satisfied. I knew we could do more for the men and women who serve this country every day. That’s why I initiated the national salary review, not the unions, not anyone else. I did it because I believed Bahamian workers deserved more. That is how we got to this moment.
That’s the record that brought us to this moment.
Yesterday, I met with the leadership of the Bahamas Union of Teachers and other public service unions.
We discussed the national salary review, the process my Government initiated to ensure every public servant is paid fairly for the work they do.
We reviewed the findings, exchanged ideas, and agreed to meet again at 1:00 p.m. today to continue our discussions.
But while we were still at the table, one of the union leaders made a public threat to call a national strike if I did not agree to the terms being demanded.
Now, I understand emotions. I understand frustration. People want results. But when both sides are still talking, the respectful thing to do is to finish the conversation.
So instead of continuing under that kind of dynamic, I decided to speak directly to you, the Bahamian people.
Because I don’t need a middleman to tell you where we stand.
Here’s where we are. The national salary review is complete, and tonight it will be made public. While the review did not include every category of public servants, the same methodology will be applied to ensure increases are extended across the wider public service. This includes our teachers, whose hard work and dedication continue to shape the future of this nation.
It’s the most comprehensive review of public service pay in decades. It examines every grade, every scale, every allowance, and every increment. It looks at the impact of inflation, at fairness between professions, and at how we can modernize pay across the public service.
The findings show that since coming to office in 2021, public officers have received salary increases every year, and that entry-level workers, the ones earning the least, have benefited the most with the consistency and regularity of their reassessments, salary adjustments, and increments, ensuring that these officers received their due in a structured, timely way, after many years of delay.
We did this because we made a decision to put workers first. Some have asked about the delay.
The delay was not a cash flow problem. It was an administrative process, making sure the new salary adjustments for more than fifteen thousand public officers were accurate, fair, and done right the first time. I am satisfied we have resolved the issue, and I want to reassure every public servant that you will be paid before Christmas.
The union leaders have to do their jobs, to represent their members. But I have to do mine, to represent all Bahamians.
My responsibility is not only to one group, but to every citizen who depends on a strong, stable country.
Some have asked what the grievance really is. There is no grievance here. The grandstanding and public drama do not change the fact that this Government is paying workers as promised. So the question must be asked, is the objection to the fact that we are paying? Surely, no one can object to fairness being delivered.
There is a proper procedure for filing grievances, and that process is always available. But let’s be clear, this situation is not about a grievance. It is about the Government doing what is right by its workers.
Before they can be members of any union, they are first employees of The Government of The Bahamas. That is why I am speaking directly to you tonight, because not all public officers are union members, but every single one of you serves this nation. You deserve to hear from your Prime Minister directly.
Workers should always be beneficiaries of our negotiations but never pawns when we disagree. When politics, personal ambition, or theatrics replace genuine advocacy, it is the workers who suffer, and I will never allow that to happen.
I know that progress is still needed for some categories of workers, and we are continuing to review those cases. We are not finished, but we are further along than we have been in a very long time.
We may have differences in approach in looking after workers, but our common goal must always be the same, to improve the lives of Bahamian workers. That is what binds us, and that is what should guide us forward.
We’re not done. The next step is to modernize our labour laws to meet the realities of today’s world. Work has changed. Families have changed. And the laws that protect our workers must change too.
We’ve already started public consultation on our labour reform proposals, and I encourage every Bahamian, every worker, employer, and union leader, to take part.
These reforms are about building a modern Bahamas, one where work is respected, families are supported, and fairness runs through everything we do.
This coming Thursday, I will meet with Sandra Major, President of BECAWU, and representatives from BEMU, to continue that national conversation about how we keep moving forward together.
I have always respected the role of unions in our national story. My mother and father were trade unionists, my mother a member of the hotel catering and allied workers union, and my father an officer in the public service union.
They have fought for fairness and helped shape a better Bahamas. But we must remember something: progress comes from partnership, not confrontation.
Others might want a fight. But a fight gets us nowhere.
What we need right now is progress. We need respectful conversation. We need to respect each other.
We achieve nothing when we talk over one another. We achieve nothing by trading words in the press instead of sitting down and working things through.
I believe discussions work best when there is mutual respect and trust. I have always been a respectful and patient listener, and I am open to any conversation held in good faith. But I will not take part in any process where dark clouds of threats hang over the table. That is not how I was raised, and that is not how I lead. I don’t believe in shouting matches or grandstanding. “Cussing and carrying on” don’t work for Brave. We are adults, and we should act like it. Real progress happens when grown men and women sit down, listen, and reason with each other. That’s how we build solutions that last.
This is not a moment for shouting; it’s a moment for solutions. Shouting loudly might work for some, but it does not work for me.
And if some people are upset because my Government decided to raise the pay of Bahamian workers after years of stagnation, if that decision offends them, my only response is this: I don’t need permission to do the right thing.
We didn’t increase pay to score points. We did it because it was time, because Bahamian workers deserved it.
So to every mother, every father, every working Bahamian, this progress is about you. It’s about making your life a little easier, your work a little fairer, and your family a little stronger.
We can’t do that by fighting. We can only do it by talking, by listening, and by understanding that respect must flow both ways.
I always say we must ask ourselves who we are, and the kind of nation we want to be.
Do we want a Bahamas that breaks apart when times get tough, or one that comes together and solves its problems?
Do we want a culture of constant confrontation, or a culture of respect and cooperation?
I choose cooperation. I choose dialogue. I choose progress.
Because when government and unions work together, families win. When we listen to each other, everyone moves forward.
That is what I am asking for tonight, a recommitment to partnership.
Let’s sit down. Let’s talk. Let’s find solutions. Let’s not lose sight of what matters most, the wellbeing of Bahamian families.
And I will not sit in any room where respect is not mutual and shouting is the only tool on the table.
My friends, tonight I want you to hear this clearly: I will always speak to you directly. I will always fight for fairness. And I will always put the Bahamian worker first.
The salary review being released tonight is proof of our commitment. The labour reforms now under consultation are proof of our vision for the future. And the steady improvements you’ve already seen, in pay, benefits, and opportunity, are proof that we are keeping our word.
We’ve come too far to turn back now.
Let’s keep walking forward together, calmly, confidently, and with hope.
May God bless each of you, your families, and the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
