The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas must “usher in a new day” of business/labour co-operation, a senior Bahamian hotel executive urging that trade unions see the employer’s ability to “prosper” as the key objective.

While acknowledging that there was “a place for trade unions”, Robert Sands, Baha Mar`s senior vice-president of government and external affairs, said key terms such as “productivity” and “value of a job for business profitability” had to be included in negotiations with employers.

Calling for a “new day of labour and capital co-operation”, Mr Sands told the HVS Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference & Operations Summit (CHICOS) conference: “We have to be pulling in the same direction to make the business successful, and once we’ve done that the whole element of employee terms and conditions can be met.

“We have to focus on things that allow businesses to prosper. We have to usher in that new day.”

Speaking in a panel discussion at the same conference, Khaalis Rolle, minister of state for investments, acknowledged the often adversarial relationships that occurred in talks between Bahamian employers, unions and the Government.

He suggested that labour/union expectations were often “too high” in terms of what was achievable, especially when it came to balancing their goals with the business’s profitability and success prospects.

Noting that improvement was already required in some business operating areas, Mr Rolle said there had to be “balance” and communication in the workplace.

“I don’t know if there’s been a philosophy of balance and philosophy of co-operation,” he added. “Unions, government and capital always seem to be diametrically opposed in philosophy and expectations......

“I believe that over time the expectations have become extremely high without consideration for how we get there; the capital input. There’s some issues that have to be solved to allow the relationship to work a lot better.”