The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE air traffic controllers union has rejected government’s proposal on an interim industrial agreement. Bahamas Air Traffic Controllers Union’s president Roscoe Perpall says that the union, which has been operating without an industrial agreement since 2008, was looking to secure a long term deal with government as well as have other outstanding issues addressed.

Mr Perpall confirmed that the union had met with government officials last Wednesday to work out an interim agreement because of the country’s current fiscal constraints. It would then hammer out a long term agreement in the summer. “The Bahamas air traffic controllers union is in continued negotiations with the Bahamas government with respect to an interim agreement that basically is supposed to last through June of this year. Currently the government has not put forward a proposal that membership is satisfied with, negotiations on Wednesday were to deal with that particular issue and membership rejected the proposal that was on the table. We will attempt to continue these negotiations and hopefully in the next few days arrive at a more amicable agreement for the membership,” said Mr Perpall.

“In addition to that,” he added, “there are many other outstanding issues. Issues related to training and also the continued situation with respect to night flights needs attention from the government. The controllers expect to have those issues addressed in the not too distant future. The proposal being rejected was a short term proposal expected to end in June 30 this year. The government is of the view that they want put in place in a short term agreement that will expire June 30 and after July 1 will enter into further discussions for a long term plan. The short term plan is because of the financial situation the country finds itself in at this time. The controllers union appreciates the financial constraints the government is in. The negotiations were ongoing because our contract expired since 2008 and we have been making attempts to arrive at a new industrial agreement ever since.” Mr Perpall said that after the Easter holiday, the union hoped to sit down with government again to work on a deal.