The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) line-staff union yesterday said it remains in a “wait and see situation” over further potential downsizing at the carrier.

“We always have a concern when the company raises the subject about right-sizing and streamlining because, at the end of the day, it impacts people,” said Dino Rolle, president of the Bahamas Communication and Public Officers Union (BCPOU).

“We are still waiting for a clear determination as to what their plans are as it relates to staffing levels. Until such time it’s a wait and see situation. We don’t have a clear understanding as to where they are going,”

Mr Rolle was commenting after BTC revealed it has decided to close some of its franchise stores, although the number and specific locations were not disclosed. While Tribune Business was unable to confirm up to press time yesterday how many outlets will be impacted, the union president branded the situation “unfortunate”.

“Those persons who are employed in those franchise stores are unfortunately not my members; not a part of the inner workings of BTC. The situation is still unfortunate,” added Mr Rolle.

BTC, in its statement, said: “In this current phase we are empowering all of our franchised stores to provide end-to-end support for all fixed, broadband and mobile solutions. Additionally, we are increasing the use of technology and introducing kiosks to enable bill payment and top-up transactions.

“We are also assessing our current franchise and master distributor footprint to ensure that we are in the right locations, and that we are able to efficiently meet the needs of our customers. In this regard, we have reduced the number of franchise locations and master distributors in our current footprint, allowing us to manage our customer support more effectively.” BTC had more than 30 franchise locations across the country.

Bernard Evans, the National Congress of Trade Unions (NCTU) president, also described the store network downsizing as “unfortunate” though “not surprising”.

“Prior to the sale of BTC there were a number of opportunities proposed by Cable and Wireless at the time,” he recalled. “One of the opportunities was for full-time staff to venture off and participate in becoming entrepreneurs via these franchise stores.

“According to the Heads of Agreement there was supposed to be a flagship store on each island and two on New Providence; one at the Mall of Marathon and the other at Southwest Plaza. These so-called franchise stores were supposed to be opportunities for former employees who would have been impacted by the closure of stores throughout The Bahamas. That did not materialise at all. I think only two stores were awarded to former BTC employees.”

Mr Evans continued: “We also knew in the back of our minds that this was not a long-term prospect for the company. I’m personally not surprised. It’s impacting jobs and I feel for those persons affected. I hope that the company can recognise what it means when you eliminate one job and how many persons are actually affected by that.

“The economy is recovering a little bit, but it’s not enough to offset any kind of job loss for those persons to find other opportunities. It’s the nature of the business we’ve come to realise in the marketplace. Certainly the advent of the second mobile licence hasn’t helped. As the company strives to improve its bottom line and reduce operational expenses we can expect more and more of these kinds of decisions.