The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

TRADE Union Congress president Obie Ferguson says any political party not talking about a “living wage” is out of touch with the needs of Bahamian workers.

The day after the Free National Movement released its 81-page manifesto with a pledge to consider an increase in the minimum wage, the TUC president said he was inclined to side with University of The Bahamas’ previous study that the living wage for New Providence and Grand Bahama should be $2,625 and $3,550 per month respectively.

 He told The Tribune his position on this was “very strong”.

 For his part, Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union president Darrin Woods said his union would “wait and see” what happens if the FNM was re-elected, adding the Minnis administration did not live up to its promises for labour over the last four years.

 “We are interested in a living wage,” Mr Ferguson said. “We have the minimum wage now and it’s not ideal.

 “We as a movement are interested in a living wage and if you recall the University of The Bahamas did a study and they determined what the minimum wage should be.

 “It was certainly more than $250. So, what we say we are to be engaged in establishing what the living wage should be, not the minimum wage.

 “I basically share a very strong view on the minimum wage. I think all of my colleagues to a great extent, at least the majority of them, support the concept of a living wage and that’s the reason why the document that we signed that we thought every political party would have signed, we stressed that while we are now enjoying what we call the minimum wage, which is about $250, we say we want the living wage.

 “Living wage is what the average Bahamian needs to exist on and if you’re not talking living wage then you are not up to date with the times.”

 He was referring to an MoU signed between the TUC and National Congress of Trades Unions of The Bahamas which commits the Progressive Liberal Party, if elected, to “work towards the enactment of a liveable wage”. After the union leaders and PLP leaders signed the MOU a large number of other unions disassociated themselves from the signing saying they had not been involved in any discussions about the document.

 Yesterday Mr Ferguson continued: “At one point we had asked for $350, right, $300 on the lower side and on the high side $350. Obviously, the university’s position is by far more than what we propose but they did a scientific analysis, which I am inclined to go with, and we are inclined to go with those figures. But the economy is as such today that we want to make sure to the extent that we want to make sure that the economy is poised for growth. We want to make sure that is the case.

“We want to make sure the dollar remains strong, and we want to be sensitive to all the other economic factors and all the economic partners that are trying to get this economy back.”

 However, Mr Ferguson lamented that both umbrella unions had not been included in the government’s plans for a post COVID-19 pandemic rebound.

 “The problem we had though we haven’t been a part of that process. We have been shut out.

 “Labour is a factor of production just like land, just like capital, just like entrepreneurial skills. Those are factors of production. If you pull one out, you’re not going to get the maximum of what you are trying to achieve.

 “While we are moving towards the digitised society, we haven’t gotten there yet so what you have to do is use what you have in order to get what you’re trying to get and we as a labour movement, we have not been really a real part of whatever mechanism they are reviewing or looking at to jump start this economy.

 “The labour movement is very highly qualified, not like it used to be. We have accountants (and) CPAs. We have lawyers. We have economists. We have management experts. I mean you know we have planners in the labour movement and so we don’t always come alive when there is a strike or there is some industrial action.

 “We are a part of the civil society, but somehow we are not viewed like that by some of our people and I think they forget our history.”

 Yesterday, Mr Woods suggested he was not too optimistic about the FNM’s pledge.

 He said: “How about we go back to the last one where they said they were going to amend the Industrial Relations Act and the Employment Act in the last one? So, we wait and see.”

 The September 30, 2020 study on the living wage was authored by Lesvie Archer, Olivia Saunders, Bridget Hogg, Vijaya Permual and Brittney Johnson.

 The study said “a gross living wage estimate for New Providence is 26 percent lower than the Grand Bahama living wage estimate, nearly 200 percent higher than the national minimum wage, 127 percent higher than 2013 poverty line and nearly 75 percent higher than the minimum wage hike proposed by a local union.”

 The study also says: “Our living wage estimate for Grand Bahama is nearly 300 percent higher than the living wage, 200 percent higher than the 2013 poverty line and 140 percent higher than the minimum wage hike proposed by a local union.”

 The country’s minimum wage is currently $210 a week.

 The Progressive Liberal Party has also promised a minimum wage increase to $250 if elected.