The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Negotiations over the Employment Act reforms went into last night, with one employer warning it would be “difficult to stay in business” until persons who understand the private sector enter Government.

Captain Randy Butler, Sky Bahamas’ president and chief executive, told Tribune Business that the initial reforms to the Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act - if enacted as is - would have to be repealed due to the “catastrophic” impact on businesses.

Describing the initial proposals as “one-sided” and “not business friendly”, Mr Butler warned that they were counter-productive and would actually increase - not decrease - Bahamian unemployment.

“I know that with the proposed NHI scheme, the increase in the minimum wage and other increases in these things, and no increase in productivity and the way the Government calculates the Business License, it’s going to be very, very difficult for anyone to get into business or stay in business in the Bahamas,” Mr Butler said, “until we have people who know what it is to sustain a payroll and stay in business.

“I sometimes get the view that the left hand is not talking to the right. There should be wide consultation. They’re [the Government] talking about increasing employment, but they’re doing things counter-productive to that.”

Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, said he and its chairman, Gowon Bowe, were still in talks with the Government over the labour law reforms going into yesterday evening.

“We’re still working on the Employment [Act] side, trying to finalise some of the agreements there,” Mr Sumner said. “We’re going through it now, and making good progress.”

The Government wants both Bills to pass their second reading in the House today, with Mr Butler becoming the latest to suggest that the timing is an election ploy designed to win the trade union/labour vote.

He added that the Bahamas’ economic condition, together with the need for businesspersons to be present in the Government, had motivated his decision to again stand as a Democratic National Alliance (DNA) in the upcoming election, this time for the South Beach constituency.

“It’s going to create unemployment and people are going to go out of business,” Mr Butler said of the initial Bills’ likely effects.

He added that the extra costs and bureaucracy they threaten to impose had to be viewed holistically, and viewed against a backdrop of new and increased taxes - together with a declining ‘ease of doing business’ - that had burdened the private sector in recent years.

“It’s not business friendly. It doesn’t look like the Government plans for businesses or new businesses to come,” Mr Butler told Tribune Business. “It’s creating a welfare state.

“Although it’s an election year, and people continue to believe you’re giving them free things, it’s not real. They’re going to have to repeal a lot of this stuff because it’s going to have a catastrophic effect on business. No way can you sustain this. It’s too heavy on one side. There’s no increase in productivity, and many businesses are heavily regulated.”

Explaining his decision to re-enter politics, Mr Butler added: “We need some people who don’t have to depend on the Government, are not afraid, and who understand it’s a do or die situation for the economy.

“With this group [the Christie administration] it’s going to get worse.”

The Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act amendments, which were tabled two weeks ago, 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.