The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Trade unions yesterday promised they would “continue to agitate” for an increase in the 12-year redundancy ‘cap’, arguing that only they stood between employers “ripping the guts out of working people”.

Bernard Evans, the National Congress of Trade Unions (NCTU) president, yesterday acknowledged that the labour movement was “a little disappointed” that the Government had withdrawn previous proposals to increase redundancy pay by 67 per cent.

He promised, though, that the trade unions would “go back whenever the opportunity presents itself to champion” the cause for lifting the so-called ‘redundancy cap’ to a level more in line with the Caribbean average.

Employers and trade unions were divided over the revised Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act reforms unveiled by Shane Gibson, minister of labour and national insurance, in the House of Assembly yesterday.

The reforms, which passed their third reading in the House and now move forward to the Senate, were greeted with some relief by private sector representatives, who said: “Reason has prevailed”.

The revisions, which appear far more balanced than the initial labour-friendly reforms, completely dropped plans to alter the redundancy ‘cap’ - a key concern of all Bahamas-based employers.

Mr Gibson yesterday said those proposals were “deleted” in their entirety, with the Employment Act’s existing terms set to continue.

Line staff, 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’, will continue to receive such compensation.

Previous proposals to increase the ‘cap’ to 32 weeks (16 years) immediately, and 40 weeks after two years, have been scrapped.

And managerial staff will continue to receive the existing 48 weeks (12 months/one year) redundancy pay maximum that they are due under the Employment Act, rather than an immediate increase to 64 weeks, followed by 80 weeks after two years.

Peter Goudie, one of the private sector’s representatives on the National Tripartite Council, told Tribune Business: “It seems that we have prevailed. Thank God for small mercies.

“It would appear that the Cabinet brought some sense to what was being proposed. I think the majority of the Cabinet did not want to see such a payment structure imposed in the Bahamas right now.”

Basing this on negotiations he had been privy to, Mr Goudie added: “I think we brought some sense to some of the measures they wanted to bring in.

“It is what it is. We’ve been at it ever since they brought it in, and it [negotiations] were going on up until this morning according to the e-mails I saw.”

Tribune Business understands that at one point there was a proposal to carve out the hotel sector, the Bahamas’ largest employer, from the increased redundancy ‘cap’ - which would still have applied to all other employers.

This, though, was dropped in favour of retaining the ‘status quo’, but this newspaper was told that talks between the Government, private sector and unions continued “at the 11th hour” into yesterday afternoon - just prior to the Bills’ third reading in the House.

The proposed reforms also impose bureaucratic notification requirements on Bahamian businesses whenever they are considering redundancies.

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.

Tribune Business understands that employers, especially in the hotel industry, wanted these provisions ‘watered down’ to merely notifying unions and employee representatives - something the Government appeared not to have agreed to.

Mr Gibson, though, told the House that the revised reforms ‘segmented’ the redundancy notification provisions into two categories - those businesses terminating 20 employees or more, and those terminating less - with separate procedures to be followed by both.

The NCTU’s Mr Evans said that despite the trade union movement’s “disappointment” at the reform revisions, it understood “you don’t get everything you ask for”.

He added that the unions had sought the redundancy ‘cap’ increase mainly to benefit non-unionised workers, as union members had better terms than those contained in the Employment Act written into their industrial agreements.

Mr Evans said the unions had also wanted to bring the Bahamas into line with the rest of the Caribbean, where the ‘caps’ in Jamaica and Barbados were 20 years and 33 years, respectively. He added that none existed in Antigua & Barbuda.

“We were only trying to improve on the 12 years we have here,” Mr Evans told Tribune Business. “It’s unfortunate that was rolled back and revisited.

“The employers will see that as a victory, but next year, the year after, or whenever it rolls around again, we’ll agitate for it. We’re absolutely going to continue to agitate for it, continue to fight and close the gap.”

He added: “The middle class continues to dwindle and spiral down, with no increase in their wages. Bahamians won’t be able to get into the middle class unless we stand our ground and share the wealth.

“Those at the top want to keep what they have, and get more and not share it. If I was to give you the average unionised worker’s benefits and earnings compared to a non-unionised worker, it’s shameful.

“We’re dealing with Bahamians. We all work in this economy, but if it was not for labour standing in the gap to ensure fairness, I don’t know where we’d be.”

Mr Evans continued: “It’s the goal of employers the world over to get rid of unions because we stand in the way of them ripping the guts out of working people.

“I must commend the Government for trying. We couldn’t get everything we wanted. I’m pleased, but we will go back whenever the opportunity presents itself to champion the cause of increasing the redundancy ‘cap’.”

The Government also made additional union-friendly reforms, with the changes allowing employees to obtain both redundancy pay and their non-contributory pension or gratuity.

The initial Employment Act draft required employees to choose one or the other, but now they can walk away with both - something permitted in the hotel industry for years, even though it is not law.

The Government has also agreed to another union demand by reducing the threshold for ‘agency shop’ from 60 per cent of workers voting in favour to 50 per cent plus one.

Mr Gibson pledged: “We are committed to getting it right. While some of our social partners feel that these provisions will disadvantage some of them, I am confident that in due time all stakeholders will agree that these landmark pieces are in the best interest of working Bahamians and will have a positive impact on the Bahamian economy.”