The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Baha Mar’s recent 190 lay-offs show how Bahamian workers have been “seriously compromised”, a union leader last night using the episode to slam his own, as well as the Government and foreign developers.

Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, addressing a graduation exercise at Trinidad and Tobago’s Cipriani Labour College, questioned whether the hotel union had suffered from “a false sense of security” over the redundancies.

Some may feel that Mr Ferguson’s criticism of the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) may be linked to the fact that it not a TUC member, but he also asked whether it had been “ill-advised” over what it could do in relation to Baha Mar’s move.

Not stopping there, Mr Ferguson also hit out at foreign developers and multinational companies that own most of the Bahamian, and Caribbean, hotel industries.

Suggesting that such groups often believed “they are bigger than sovereign governments”, Mr Ferguson said some administrations allowed such perceptions to flourish.

He called on the Bahamas to employ International Framework Agreements (IFAs), describing these as a device to ensure foreign companies complied with local labour and employment laws.

“Multinational companies are being established through mergers and acquisitions in our region, and they are not inclined to adhere to our labour laws and employment protocols,” Mr Ferguson said, in an address before 180 graduating students.

“Multinationals have the tendency to believe that they are bigger than governments, and some of our governments allow them that perception. Clear rules need to be laid down for these companies, but sometimes labour is not brought to the negotiation table, and the result is that the interest of our workers is seriously compromised.”

Turning to the recent Baha Mar lay-offs as an example of this, Mr Ferguson said: “Very recently, in the Bahamas, a new tourist development was established. A decision was made by the organisation to dismiss 190 workers in one of its hotels.

“The union is now furious, but helpless, and is appealing to the Government to intervene. The union was not involved in the signing of the Heads of Agreement between the Government of The Bahamas, and the new company (Baha Mar).

“One could ask the question whether this union had developed a false sense of security on behalf of its membership, or whether it was ill-advised about the reality of the situation.”

The hotel union has argued that Baha Mar is in breach of two conditions contained in its Heads of Agreement; that it will maintain existing workforce numbers, and that any persons laid-off will be redeployed elsewhere in its business.

Yet it has acknowledged that it has virtually no legal options, or recourse, as it was not party to the Heads of Agreement, hence its appeal to the Government to intervene.

For Baha Mar’s part, the lay-offs be part of efforts to restructure its workforce prior to the $3.5 billion project’s opening.

The former Crystal Palace workers have also been the victims of Baha Mar’s delayed opening. The project had originally been scheduled to open in December 2014, and the developer had anticipated the several hundred persons graduating from its training programmes this month would go straight into working at the new hotels.

With the delay until late Spring 2015, this will not happen. As a result, Baha Mar would have been left with a bloated workforce and wage bill, and no income to support it, without the 190 redundancies.

Calling for Caribbean trade unions to adapt to the times with “a more proactive approach”, Mr Ferguson suggested that they employ IFAs.

These, he said, were “a key tool used by unions to lay down the rules of conduct for transnational companies, so that core labour laws and employment protocols would be adhered to”.

“The Caribbean needs to adapt to external factors, such as competition and productivity in this 21st century global economy, in order to survive. Trade unions are faced with unfavourable trends such as declining memberships,” Mr Ferguson said.

“Nevertheless, promoting social justice in this region remains an ongoing process, as our adherence to global standards is not yet complete.”

Mr Ferguson called for worker certification to be facilitated by labour colleges in the region, boosting workplace skills and the ability to move upwards within companies.

He also urged “a shift from adversarial to interest-based bargaining between unions and employers”, and called on trade unions to “become more technology driven and Internet savvy”.