The Tribune

LEADERS of the Bahamas Customs and Immigration Allied Workers Union are scheduled to meet with Labour Minister Dion Foulkes this morning to clarify what their lawyer, Obie Ferguson, is now dismissing as a "misunderstanding". One would have thought that if union leaders were sincere in their "misunderstanding" story -- and the unrest had no political overtones -- then the union would have ordered the immigration staff back to work until the matter could be clarified. Apparently, this is not the case. Up to yesterday, some airport immigration staff were still working under General Orders -- 9am to 5pm -- with senior officers filling in after they have gone home. According to Mr Ferguson, the chaos caused by Immigration officers abandoning their stations on Saturday, was "no strike, no sick out, no industrial action". He then added: "We actually have a right to strike as we have taken the strike vote ... but it was none of those things." Having repudiated their own industrial agreement with government -- an agreement that provides for a strike vote -- and opted to go with General Orders, it is now debatable whether their strike vote is still valid. Mr Ferguson could well find that having abandoned the agreement, the union can no longer strike. We suggest that lawyer and union have drifted up a creek of confusion. They might find that without their strike paddle a mere "misunderstanding" will not be a sufficient excuse for their irresponsible behaviour. On Saturday, Prime Minister Ingraham ordered them back to work, unless, of course they were prepared to face the consequences of disobeying orders. He told them that the shift system, which eliminates their exorbitant overtime, was still in effect. "In fact," said Mr Ingraham, "if many of them would check their terms and conditions of employment they will find that since 1996 nearly all of them had been hired by the public service with a condition in their contract, which said you shall work on a shift. "Persons who do not return to work forthwith," he warned, "will be dealt with by the public service without regard to any other consideration. We are serious about this." This brought several officers back to the job, but we understand that there is still unrest at the airport. Mr Ingraham made it clear that government was never going back to the days of paying "millions and millions of dollars in overtime pay to customs and immigration officers". He said that they would receive whatever overtime pay was specified under the Employment Act -- no more. "So no amount of agitation on the part of immigration officers will change that unchangeable position," he said. "We increased pay for officers in immigration and customs so that a student coming out of high school with several BGCSEs at grade C and above can start working as a trainee for $18,000 per year." He suggested that this was more than many would earn in the private sector. The Bahamian taxpayer has a right to know how much these persons are now earning, and how much they had earned in the carefree days of overtime pay. Many businesses in the private sector have switched to the shift system, knowing how employees can fiddle overtime. Overtime can be the death knell to any business -- and should be outlawed in government service because of lack of proper supervision. In 1996, The Tribune did a survey of salaries of the BEC staff, only to discover that when overtime was added, they were making more than highly skilled professionals. For example, common labourers at the corporation in 1996 earned in basic pay between $16,000 and $19,000 a year, jack hammer operators and tree trimmers took home between $16,000 and $29,000. However, by the time they collected their overtime pay, their wages could be in the region of $40,000 to $45,000 a year. Bahamian taxpayers were being bled to death. We strongly suggest that if immigration staff want to operate under General Orders, then after the 9am to 5pm shift go home, bring in newly recruited staff contracted to work only the night shift and weekends at a fixed rate of pay. This should mark the final year that unions can strong arm a government for benefits the country cannot afford only because it is an election year. As we have already suggested, unions should not be allowed to negotiate with government during an election year. They should get all of these matters out of the way the year before. Public service unions have been allowed to have their way for far too long.