The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

The Union of Tertiary Educators of the Bahamas (UTEB) filed a trade dispute against the College of the Bahamas on Wednesday, union president Mark Humes said yesterday.

He said the dispute was filed after the union gave COB’s administration ample time to hand over certain financial information needed to make informative decisions on proposals for a new industrial agreement.

“It’s part of our agreement that they provide us with annual financial budget reports but they have never done it,” Mr Humes said, adding that he wasn’t even sure that COB had “proper accounting.”

He said: “On November 8, 2013, UTEB asked COB to provide the union with information so that it could carefully understand and consider the college’s response to UTEB’s financial proposal in an agreement presently being discussed.”

The information being sought includes “a copy of a financial presentation given by the Vice President of Finance” in a negotiation meeting on November 1st, “a list of the costs for all faculty who have taken advantage of leaves, allowances, overloads, and other benefits outlined in the proposed agreement from 2008 to 2012” as well as a “listing of faculty who have been denied subsidies due to insufficient funding”

“A complete, itemized breakdown of all salaries and related costs of all COB employees and what percentage goes toward their salaries and benefits” are other pieces of information the union is seeking from COB, he said.

By withholding such information, the college has proven that it is not willing to work in good faith with the union, he added.

He said he has the full support of COB’s faculty, many of whom are concerned about the financial choices of COB’s administration and the way the college is ran.

The Ministry of Labour has yet to set a date when conciliation talks between COB and UTEB representatives will take place.

But Mr Humes said he expects the matter to be resolved in the union’s favor.

He added that as the college makes its transition to university status, faculty investment must be high on the agenda of COB’s administration.