The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday urged both sides in the Morton Salt dispute had agreed to “refrain” from taking any action that undermines the company’s economic viability.

Dion Foulkes, minister of labour, said resolution of the differences between Inagua’s largest employer and the union representing 100 of its line staff was a “top priority” for the government after the salt harvester previously threatened to “lock out” the workforce in just one week’s time if they were unable to reach a “happy medium” on a new industrial deal.

Mr Foulkes said he was attempting to broker a meeting between at Morton Salt Bahamas management and the Bahamas Industrial, Manufacturers & Allied Workers Union (BIMAWU), with the Prime Minister also taking a close interest in the matter.

Speaking ahead of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Foulkes said: “I spoke to both Obie Ferguson, the attorney for the union at Morton Salt, and I spoke to Ms Jennifer Brown, the president for the union at Morton Salt.

“I also had a conversation with Mr Scott Nixon, who is the general manager for the company. I am attempting to encourage both sides to refrain from any action that may affect the operation of the plant and the economic situation at Matthew Town, Inagua.”

He added: “Both management and the union have agreed to halt any anticipated or proposed action. From the union’s side they have agreed not to engage in any industrial action. On the management side they have agreed to hold off on any potential lock-out of the plant. We are trying to set up a meeting as soon as possible.

“The lead negotiator for Morton resides in Chicago, and we are trying to confirm a date that is convenient for Mr Obie Ferguson, the lead negotiator of the union. We anticipate that maybe next week, or the week after that we will be able to have a meeting. I will chair that meeting to see to what extent we can bring a resolution to all of the issues at Morton Salt.”

Mr Foulkes said that resolving the long-standing dispute between the salt harvester and the union was “top priority for the Prime Minister, and this is a top priority for the government to have the matter at Morton Salt settled.

“Matthew Town is a one-company town in terms of the economic activity there, and we want to ensure that the livelihood of all of the workers and residents is secured at Matthew Town.”

The dispute between Morton Bahamas and the BIMAWU further escalated last week after the company, in a letter exposing its growing exasperation and frustration over the two sides’ “impasse”, accused the line staff union of failing to negotiate “in good faith” and disrupting “the economic viability” of its Bahamian operations.

Morton Salt executive, Christopher Getaz, told Jennifer Brown, the BIMAWU president, that her members will be locked out of its facilities from July 3 unless the company received a reply indicating the two sides can reach a “happy medium” over a new industrial agreement.

Noting the union’s possession of a strike certificate, and previous threats of industrial action, Mr Getaz also blamed reduced productivity and work slowdowns on the BIMAWU’s influence, and suggested that the “lock-out” was required to redress the negotiating balance.

These actions, he alleged, included “an operating deficit in all harvest levels” on a daily, weekly, monthly and year-to-date basis to February 22, 2019; “significantly lower boat loading rates” in February and March; and a “reduction to lowest loading rates”, which caused “significant costs and placed the company at risk of missing the contract for de-icing salt” around early March.

“The foregoing requires the company to consider whether, in the declared industrial action climate, it is necessary for the company to lock employees out of the plant in furtherance of the company’s bargaining objectives in negotiations for a new industrial agreement,” Mr Getaz told the union.

“We invite a response from you within the next 15 days with a view to arriving at a happy medium between the parties. Failing such a response, or the arrival to a happy medium between the parties, the company intends to proceed with its lock-out at the expiry of 15 days from the fate of this letter.”

Mr Getaz added that the company’s June 13 offer to the union was its “best and final” position, and said: “The company is not in a position to make further offers.”

In response, the union’s Ms Brown told this newspaper that Inagua would become “a ghost town” should Morton Salt follow through with its staff lock-out threat. She added that while the BIMAWU wanted an industrial deal it would “not sign for stupidness”.

Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, and attorney and chief negotiator for the BIMAWU, last week argued that Morton Salt’s proposal was a “deficit industrial agreement” and called for salary increases that matched the inflation rate.

Explaining what he meant, the TUC chief said the base salary increases offered to workers over the proposed industrial agreement’s three-year term - 1.5 percent for each of the first two years, and 1.9 percent for the final year - were lower than the current rate of inflation and cost of living increases, which have both been impacted by last year’s VAT rate hike.

And, Mr Ferguson argued, the increase in staff contributions to their health insurance coverage would more than offset the positive effect from salary increases. “The increase in insurance would give you what I call a deficit industrial agreement, a negative,” he told this newspaper.