The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

and NEILHARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

A trade union leader yesterday expressed doubts that the Government and employers will “acquiesce” to additional labour law reform demands.

Bernard Evans, the National Congress of Trade Unions (NCTU) president, told Tribune Business that the union body had seized the opportunity presented by employer protests, and subsequent negotiations with the Government, to propose more changes to the Employment and Industrial Relations Acts.

Among the NCTU’s requests is for the Employment Act’s definition of ‘basic pay’ to be amended, so that the commissions and gratuities earned by employees, plus all benefits they previously enjoyed, are included in the redundancy settlement.

Mr Evans added that it was also “trying to close the gap” between the redundancy pay received by managerial workers and their line staff counterparts, saying the former received “double the amount of weeks” under the Employment Act.

He said the union was calling for the line staff ‘weeks’ to be increased, or those for managers to be cut, so as to narrow the difference,.

The NCTU is also urging the Government to reconsider proposed changes to the Industrial Relations Act’s section 20, would require that “a two-thirds majority” of union members must vote in favour of taking a strike poll before it can be held - something they do not have to do currently.

The proposed clause creates another step, and a potential impediment/obstacle, in the process trade unions and Bahamian workers must undergo before they can lawfully take industrial action against an employer. It effectively requires them to ‘take a vote on taking a vote’.

“I don’t have too much faith they will acquiesce to that,” Mr Evans told Tribune Business of the Government’s likely reaction to the latest proposals. “Certainly, the employers will not acquiesce.

“It’s a bit of a challenge, but we took the opportunity to advance these change and see what happens, seeing as they gave the opportunity to come back to the table.”

Employer representatives, meanwhile, were tight-lipped on the ongoing negotiations with the Government, one telling Tribune Business yesterday: “We’re deep in discussions. There’s nothing I can tell you right now.”

Prime Minister Perry Christie, meanwhile, suggested that an amicable outcome could be reached over the controversial reforms, with the Government and private sector “working together, rather than against each other”.

Mr Christie, while wrapping up an address at the launch of a half-day crowdfunding seminar hosted jointly by the Securities Commission and the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC), expressed optimism on the Government working with the private sector representative.

“We are involved in a process of reforming our labour laws that the Chamber reacted strongly to on behalf of businesses, on the basis that if done now it could, in fact, result in an inordinate cost being placed on businesses at a time when they could not be properly absorbed and accommodated,” said Mr Christie.

“The essence of making things work in our country will be born out in this exercise, as it was when we introduced VAT, where rather than work against each other we will work together.

“That is what is happening with the Chamber and the Government today; that we are working together on the basis that we are making this country a country for all of us to live in comfortably, and so a shared vision for the country is the answer to securing the future of our country.”

The Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act amendments, which were tabled last week, have received strong push back from the private sector. 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 proposed reforms also impose bureaucratic notification requirements on Bahamian businesses whenever they are considering redundancies, and a fine equivalent to 30 days’ extra pay for each terminated employee should these not be adhered to.

Employers will have to give relevant trade unions, or employee representatives, a “written statement” explaining the reasons for the redundancies and “facts” behind the move, along with the number and category of jobs impacted, and the timeframe over which the terminations will take place.

Shane Gibson, minister of labour and national insurance, on Wednesday told the House of Assembly that negotiations over the private sector’s last-ditch efforts to mitigate what it perceives as the most damaging aspects of the reforms were likely to conclude swiftly.

He said Bahamian employers were to submit documents and recommendations to the Government yesterday, with the Christie administration seeking to conclude House debate on the Bills on Monday.