The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Electrical Manager’s Union (BEMU) has filed a trade dispute to bring closure to “protracted negotiations” on a new industrial agreement.

Clinton Minnis, the BEMU president, said yesterday that the failure to secure a new industrial agreement and changes to employee pension plans were “critical issues” concerning the manager’s union.

Speaking at a press conference at the House of Labour on Wulff Road, Mr Minnis said the BEMU’s industrial agreement expired in September 2013, with negotiations for a new one starting a year later.

He added that the union had filed a trade dispute to deal specifically with the failure to conclude a new contract.

Mr Minnis said: “What has happened is the Government’s labour consultant came to the union and said whatever clauses were not signed off at the time, this was from September or October of last year, that the Government wanted us to stop and the contract would be signed as is.

“This is almost a year now. When they came back, they came back asking us to change clauses that we have already ratified this with our membership. We have problems with the games that are being played.

“We have been patient and we have allowed the line-staff union’s contract to get out of the way. On one hand the Government is telling us that they are going to instruct BEC to close the contract, and BEC is saying that they haven’t gotten any further instructions from the Government. We’re tired of this foolishness.”

Mr Minnis added that there were employee pension issues the union wants to have addressed. He said: “The Government has failed to instruct the Corporation to bring closure to two outstanding issues. One is the changes of conditions to our pension plan, which can negatively affect retirees and employees who may seek voluntary retirement and separation from the Corporation.

“The second issue is the payment of lump sums to retired persons of the bargaining unit for the term 2013 to 2018, a five-year contract period. People have retired from BEC during this contract negotiation. This affects 115 persons, 95 from the line-staff union and 15 from the managerial union.

“Someone needs to talk to somebody because the people want their money and they have been calling me every day. We were given promises that all these matters would have been resolved; that’s why we have filed a trade dispute. We don’t know who to trust in this process.”