The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

A SENIOR Chamber of Commerce official has blasted the Progressive Liberal Party’s proposed paid lunch break, saying employers should not be forced to pay workers to eat.

“I don't do s***,” said Peter Goudie, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce’s labour chief. “I don't agree with that at all. Why I gotta pay somebody to eat food?”

The PLP, during its “Blueprint for Progress” event on Wednesday night, said it would require a paid one-hour break for employees working shifts of eight hours or more. The party’s proposed labour pledges include a guaranteed paid one-hour break for long shifts, a mandatory minimum of eight hours’ rest between shifts, limits on probation periods, three annual mental wellness days without a doctor’s note, expanded parental leave, and requirements for workplaces to accommodate breastfeeding.

Mr Goudie said while some businesses already provide paid breaks, he does not believe it should be mandated by law.

“Come on now, businesses do that, but I'm not sure it needs to be legislated and put in place,” he said. “I'm a strong believer that you get paid for what you work. That's my personal belief, and paying me to eat food, I got a problem with that.”

He also questioned the proposal to require at least eight hours’ rest between shifts, arguing it could limit workers who want to earn overtime.

“You know, especially if I'm a young man, I'm going to use that term, you know, and I want to work overtime, and I have an opportunity, and you're telling me I can't work overtime? Not sure I agree with that,” he said.

He said the proposal appears to come from unions and argued it would unfairly limit workers, especially younger ones, who may want the option to work extra hours for overtime pay.

Mr Goudie also raised concerns about the proposal to allow workers to take three mental wellness days each year without a doctor’s note, saying the lack of verification could be abused.

“It should be diagnosed,” he said. “They're just taking time off. You don't know whether they're sick or not, right? That's the issue.”

“People just say, oh I am going to take a day off today, it's a mental health day, I’m having a mental health day, and who decides that and I have a problem.”

He was more supportive of family-focused proposals, such as the long-promised plan to increase maternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks, introduce two weeks of paid paternity leave, and require employers with 20 or more staff to provide breastfeeding breaks and private spaces.

“We don't have a big problem with that because the more time the mother spends with the child, the better the child is going to be at the end of the day,” he said, while warning that smaller businesses could struggle.

“If you only got two to ten employees, and you keep increasing time off from work, it gets rough on a small business,” he said. “They just don't have the personnel, so they've got to go out and find somebody else to hire while these people are out, and that's a tough one.”

He described paid paternity leave as “no big deal”.

On breastfeeding provisions, he said the policy was workable but would require adjustment.

“It is feasible, because I know it works in Barbados, it works in other places, in the West Indies,” he said.