The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Atlantis last night said it was “extremely concerned” over the Government’s proposed labour law reforms, saying they represented “an intrusion” into companies being able to run their businesses.

Ed Fields, the resort’s senior vice-president of public affairs, told Tribune Business that the increased costs and bureaucracy associated with the amendments to the Employment and Industrial Relations Act threatened to undermine Atlantis’s competitive standing against rival destination resorts.

“Obviously, we are extremely concerned,” he said last night. “Our concern is in the context of the increasing pressures in doing business in a very, very competitive world.

“We’re going to have to sit with government and voice our concerns, but it would certainly be irresponsible for us not to say the level of concern we have with this additional pressure.”

Mr Fields added that some changes, such as the requirement for employers to notify the Minister of Labour if they planned to make just one worker redundant, seemed like unreasonable, unwarranted interference in the private sector’s operations.

“It also somehow enters into the realm of intrusion with someone being able to run their own business,” Mr Fields said. “It’s not how one runs a business, and I can say that in the context of Atlantis always having done the right thing by its employees.”

He added that Atlantis was “going to look” at the potential financial impact if the proposed reforms, which had their second reading in the House of Assembly yesterday, became law. However, the Paradise Island-based resort has “not got to that point yet”.

Atlantis’s concerns are significant, because they come from the Bahamas’ largest private sector employer, and have emerged just before the private sector meets with Prime Minister Perry Christie today to seek a compromise over the reforms.

Gowon Bowe, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chairman, confirmed to Tribune Business that the private sector will seek “to strike a balance” when it meets with Mr Christie and Shane Gibson, minister of labour and national insurance, this morning.

“Hopefully, we are able to have some meaningful dialogue and let cooler heads prevail,” Mr Bowe said. “I understand that there has to be some give and take, but hopefully they’ll sit and have that conversation, and not let it go to waste.”

He added that the debates over Value-Added Tax (VAT) and increasing the minimum wage had established a precedent for compromise between the Government and the private sector, although he acknowledged that “history is not necessarily a predicator of the future”.

Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association’s (BHREA) president, also expressed hope that today’s meeting would “be able to resolve some of the issues that ourselves, the Chamber and other private sector stakeholders have”.

Employers generally were maintaining a united front over the proposed labour law reforms, which they fear will have a “catastrophic” impact that may “bankrupt” many companies - especially small and medium-sized businesses - if enacted.

Carlton Russell, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, in an e-mail to members, warned that the Bills would have “an immediate, irreversible, detrimental impact” on all businesses.

Telling all BHTA members that their “voices must be heard”, he called on them to lobby Cabinet Ministers, MPs and even senior civil servants over their concerns.

Revealing that the private sector had “escalated efforts”, Mr Russell wrote: “We are working collaboratively and expediently to respond to the tabled amendments, which will have an immediate, irreversible, detrimental impact on Bahamian businesses, including but not limited to businesses directly and indirectly involved in the hospitality and tourism industry.

“We urge you to reach out to your appropriate public sector representative, your Member of Parliament, Ministers, and or any public representative you deem appropriate immediately to voice your concerns regarding these changes.”

Mick Holding, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s president, told Tribune Business that the reforms “shouldn’t be so extreme” that they end up deterring investment and job creation.

“The feedback I have received, and my view on it, is that while the law should be in place to protect workers’ rights, they shouldn’t be so extreme that they discourage employment and investment,” he said.

“I think the current proposals are a step too far in the wrong direction. It’s gone beyond employee protection, and is going to be punitive on businesses. It’s likely to discourage people from going into business.”

Mr Holding said the proposals, if enacted as is, will make redundancy cost prohibitive for employees. He added: “I’m all for having laws in place to protect employees from unscrupulous employers, but they shouldn’t be so extreme that they penalise good employers.”

Key among employer concerns is the 67 per cent, or two-thirds increase, in the Employment Act’s redundancy pay ‘cap’.

Line staff are currently entitled to a maximum 24 weeks or six months’ redundancy pay under the Employment Act, gaining two weeks for each year they have been employed up to the 12-year ‘cap’.

However, the Bill requires the ‘cap’ to be increased to 32 weeks (16 years) immediately upon enactment of the reforms. And, ultimately, the ‘cap’ for line staff redundancy pay is to be increased to 40 weeks some two years after the amendments are passed.

As for managerial staff, the existing 48 weeks (12 months/one year) redundancy pay maximum that they are due currently under the Employment Act is to be immediately increased to 64 weeks. Should the proposals pass, the ‘cap’ will ultimately be lifted to 80 weeks after two years.

The proposed reforms also impose bureaucratic notification requirements on Bahamian businesses, whenever they are considering redundancies, and a fine equivalent to 30 days’ extra pay for each terminated employee should these not be adhered to.

Employers will have to give relevant trade unions, or employee representatives, a “written statement” explaining the reasons for the redundancies and “facts” behind the move, along with the number and category of jobs impacted, and the timeframe over which the terminations will take place.

“Recognised” trade unions must be consulted “no later than six weeks” before the redundancies will occur in a bid to “mitigate” the impact, and determine the processes and procedures that will be used. The Minister of Labour must be given 30 days’ notice.

Meanwhile, the proposed reforms to section 51 of the Industrial Relations Act deem the terms and conditions of industrial agreements as automatically incorporated into individual workers’ contracts.

Other proposed amendments force employers to start collective bargaining talks within 45 days of receiving a trade union’s industrial agreement proposal.