The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A trade union leader has called on the Government to “stay” the enactment of the Bahamas Co-operative and Credit Union Bill to provide time for impacted members to understand its ramifications.

Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, told Tribune Business that the Bill was too complicated, describing its language as “not worker friendly”.

Mr Ferguson said: “When you read the Bill in its present form, the language is not conducive, nor is the language worker friendly. Once the Central Bank takes supervision of cooperatives, that would in effect, whether intentional or otherwise, make it much more difficult for the average worker to be able to appreciate certain situations due to the fact that the language is not conducive to them. It’s complicated.”

He added: “The document is written with the intention of lawyers and accountants and management experts being able to interpret and deal with it.

“We are saying that they should put a stay on it until they have met with all of the unions, so that we can properly go through it and make sure that if we have to go that road, that it is worker friendly.”

Addressing the House of Assembly last week, state minister for finance, Michael Halkitis, said enhanced regulation will not violate established credit union principles.

Mr Halkitis said the Bill as well as associated regulations provide enhanced supervision that would better protect 40,000 Bahamians who are credit union members.

The sector’s 8 per cent average growth rate has made it one of the fastest expanding financial services segments, effectively bucking the recession while others have struggled.

Mr Halkitis said the fact that 11 per cent of the population were credit union members, and the industry’s collective $370 million and growing total assets, made it essential to shift regulation from the Department of Cooperatives to the Central Bank.

Mr Ferguson told Tribune Business: “The money comes directly from the members. The members of the credit union are members of the union, and the language has to be so written so that it can be understood by the people to whom it was intended for.

“We want to make sure that before the Government enacts this Bill, the workers and their representatives get an opportunity to review it properly and make sure that the language is consistent with what is expected of the people we have who will be the beneficiary of it.

“If you don’t understand the document you may have a benefit in it, and not make a claim because we don’t even know. It’s a very complicated document.”