By Morgan Adderley
Tribune Staff Reporter
madderley@tribunemedia.net
THE government's unilateral decision to terminate over 2,500 people from the civil service is a "concern" and represents a breach of union agreements, Bahamas Public Services Union President Kimsley Ferguson said yesterday.
Mr Ferguson also called Attorney General Carl Bethel's recent suggestion that these job cuts have saved the government $75 million, "hypocritical". The union leader questioned why these workers could not have been redeployed to understaffed areas of the civil service, instead of the unemployment line.
Concern
"Any time people lose jobs, it's a concern for the union," Mr Ferguson told The Tribune. "(However), we need to get an understanding first before we can make a definitive statement with regards to how many of those people are really public servants who (are) indeed a part of our bargaining unit, as opposed to persons who are contracted officers or persons who are hired based on a contract. But in any event, we are very concerned about persons who lose their jobs.
"Our position is we are finding out about them when these people are terminated. When in actuality, there should be consultation with the union when persons from our bargaining unit are either disciplined or let go, not terminated."
Mr Ferguson continued: "And so, the statement that we'd like to make is that the employer (the government) is having a disregard for the agreement that's in place when they terminate persons."
According to figures released by the Department of Statistics on Friday, unemployment has slightly increased from 9.9 percent to 10.1 percent. The latest numbers also show employment in the public sector decreased by 2,555 people during the survey period.
In a press statement released by Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Leader Philip "Brave" Davis on Sunday, Mr Davis called the job cuts "shameful" and said he believes the figure of jobs lost in the public service will double once the complete picture is revealed.
When asked by The Tribune if he thinks the reported number of job cuts is accurate, Mr Ferguson replied: "I really can't answer that accurately, because I'm not sure. And we really were trying to find a way as to how we could compile the amount of persons that were terminated.
"And again I'm going to go back to what I said earlier -- the union for whatever reason is not being informed when these exercises are taking place. There is no consultation whatsoever."
Mr Ferguson added: "We are supposed to see the Minister of the Public Service (Brensil Rolle) … either this week or next week. We would've made application to meet with him. He hasn't given us a definitive date yet, but we want to address these (concerns) so that we would be able to respond to matters.
"I'm hopeful we're going to have some sort of resolve in that regard."
When asked if the majority of people have been terminated from a specific area or across the board, Mr Ferguson said: "I know for a fact the Gaming Board so far. I've been given some speculation that something is supposed to happen at (Ministry of) Agriculture.
"There are some persons that would have been dealt with from In-land Revenue. I can't really comment on any other particular area because I don't know of any at this time. And again, that is why we have this concern."
However, Mr Ferguson is adamant the government is going about these terminations the wrong way.
He said: "They're breaching the industrial agreement . . . if a person was going to be disciplined, it should be done in the presence of a shop steward representative.
Discovered
"What we have also discovered as well is that the employer and their representatives are actually bringing in shop stewards, who really are not as versed as they should be, just to say that they have someone present while they are either disciplining or getting ready to terminate a person, just so that they could say on record that a union representative was present.
"There are certain things that transpire as it relates to people's employment that you have to call an executive, the president or the secretary general, and let them know what you are about to do."
Mr Ferguson also rebutted Mr Bethel's recent comments on the job losses.
Mr Ferguson said: "My concern is, if we're terminating people to save money, that's not something that the union is supporting because if that is the case and we're faced with unemployment then it's basically a hypocritical statement.
"And we're not in support of just terminating persons to save money. We're hearing comments like other government departments are in need of persons, they're understaffed.
"Well if the public service is understaffed in some areas, then why not just redeploy individuals who they would have considered or who they would have terminated to these various areas and train them? Give them the first option.
"And for these persons who are saying that they're overstaffed, and they're making positions redundant, there is a policy in place to deal with redundancy. And if you're overstaffed then redeploy them someplace else in the public service."
Comments
BahamasForBahamians 6 years, 2 months ago
Yeah.. The Attorney General was way out of line for this statement.
His revelation of $75million in savings as a result of sending 2,500 Bahamians home without a job is tantamount to celebrating the ending of livelihoods for his own fellow Bahamians.
Even if the honorable minister feels that there was a savings due to the restructuring in staffing, his celebration should've came once innovative ways to get the affected and other vulnerable Bahamians back to work..
It's preposterous.
I wonder - when a person becomes an elected official is a detachment from reality the first requirement?
How can you an issue a statement like this - from a position of security (The AG still has his job, will still be paid, has a private law practice, declared in excess of $1million on a public disclosure form, gets driven around and eats 2 meat in the senate) and not care about the perception it will be interpreted by the most vulnerable among you?
I caution this administration - if you continue to celebrate Bahamians going on the unemployment - vulnerable and affected Bahamians will do the same to you.
Sickened 6 years, 2 months ago
Hi, I represent 'the union' (I jest)... I would like the government to employ everyone looking for work, even if they never show up to work or steal from their employer or if it bankrupts the whole entire country.
Guy 6 years, 2 months ago
Oh please. The civil service is not to be stacked with lousy and lazy workers at the expense of taxpayers. Get real. Our civil service is at least 5 times larger than it ought to be, and 500 times less efficient than we deserve for what it costs us. Get the economy going so that jobs are aplenty and shrink the civil service by another 10,000. These unions are crippling govt and businesses with their unreasonable demands. They represent poor workers and exploit them with huge salaries that they (union leaders) would never be able to earn in the private sector. Looking out for themselves.
sealice 6 years, 2 months ago
Come Fweddy the PLP gotta find a way to win an election without false promises and lies which is all your gift jobs amount to once someone independent actually steps back and takes a look,
hnhanna 6 years, 2 months ago
THE BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT IS OVER STAFF BY MORE THAN 5000 PERSONS FROM 2003
sheeprunner12 6 years, 2 months ago
What is a civil servant???? ......... Is it a person who just works at any government-operated facility or agency (like a school, clinic or other)????? ......................... Is it a person who collects a government-issued paycheck from Treasury or the Administrator's Office????? .......... Or is this a person who has a designated PF and a P&P letter from the Bahamas Public Service Commission????
That is where the conversation has to start ........ because this rookie BPSU president is confused already and trying to muddy the waters.
The Government must take a hard line on this and start holding the line on defining who really works for The Government.
hrysippus 6 years, 2 months ago
The PLP gave a job to many a crony, .......... ..... Some of them real but many of them where phony.. ... ... Keeping them on is not being reasonable, .......... ...... To ruin the economy is just short of treasonable. ... .... .... Many of our civil servants work as hard as they should, ............. ... But with far too many their attitude's no good, ........ ... ...... When asked to perform they too often will glower, .... ... ....... Expecting a tip and abusing their power, . ... .. ...... Up 'til now they all knew they could never be fired, . .. .... Their position was safe 'til the day they retired, . .. .. .... But no one cared to figure out where the money coming from,, .... ...... With government pension obligations we're sitting on a bomb, .. ... ...... The fuse will keep on burning as long as money we can borrow, .. ... .. ... Nut it's foolish to keep spending like we won't wake up omorrow, .. ... ... ...
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