The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Outspoken PLP MP, Leslie Miller, yesterday warned about the possible repercussions from the Government’s proposed labour law reforms, urging: “We must be reasonable in our approach.”

In his contribution to the House of Assembly debate on the controversial reforms yesterday, Mr Miller acknowledged concerns expressed by the private sector over the proposed changes to the Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act.

Referencing Tribune Business reports that large employers were mulling whether to impose wages and hiring freezes in response, Mr Miller said some employers were “maxed out”, adding that running  a business was not easy.

A business owner himself, Mr Miller warned that employers’ threats should not be taken lightly. “I’m not taking sides,” he said. “I want us to be fair, but I want us to realise what could happen. Who is going to suffer? The workers. What we do in here affects the lives of ordinary Bahamians.

“Let us be very careful in the decisions that we say we make for the Bahamian people that you don’t look out for one sector and not look for the larger area. These are very difficult times we are facing, and I’m very concerned about the outcomes once the amendments become law.

We must be reasonable in our approach.”

Mr Miller called for a “happy medium” to be reached over the reforms.

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) has  previously said the labour reforms tabled in Parliament were not unanimously agreed to.

As reported by Tribune Business, the Bahamas’ largest employers, including some of the biggest hotels, are mulling whether to impose a wages and hiring freeze in retaliation for the Government’s decision to force controversial labour reforms “down our throats”.

Key among employer concerns is the 67 per cent, or two-thirds increase, in the Employment Act’s redundancy pay ‘cap’.

Line staff are currently entitled to a maximum 24 weeks or six months’ redundancy pay under the Employment Act, gaining two weeks for each year they have been employed up to the 12-year ‘cap’.However, the Bill requires the ‘cap’ to be increased to 32 weeks (16 years) immediately upon enactment of the reforms.

And, ultimately, the ‘cap’ for line staff redundancy pay is to be increased to 40 weeks some two years after the amendments are passed.

As for managerial staff, the existing 48 weeks (12 months/one year) redundancy pay maximum that they are due currently under the Employment Act is to be immediately increased to 64 weeks. Should the proposals pass, the ‘cap’ will ultimately be lifted to 80 weeks after two years.

The reforms effectively make redundancy ‘cost prohibitive’ for employers. Among the consequences could be employee ‘churn’, and a reluctance to employ older workers given the cost of dismissing them, and labour market inflexibility at a time when the likes of the IMF have called for structural reform in this area.