The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company's (BTC) contract workers are expected to meet with management today in a bid to resolve their grievances, a trade union leader has revealed.

Bernard Evans, the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union's (BCPOU) president, told Tribune Business he had been able to arrange a meeting between management and the technicians.

That meeting is scheduled for 10am today, and Mr Evans said: "I was able to broker a meeting for them with management. They will try and resolve the issues that they have. I get the sense that they might be able to work something out. I'm sure they can find some line of arrangement that will be fair to both sides."

Dion Foulkes, minister of labour, told this newspaper last week that nearly half the 77 BTC contractors who were told to sign new contracts or be terminated have agreed to the company's new terms.

In a statement last week, BTC chief executive, Dexter Cartwright, said that to-date "all of our existing contractors in northern Bahamas and 38 per cent in New Providence have signed the new independent contractor agreement".

BTC management said there have been no terminations as a result of the contract dispute.

"The company met with the independent contractors and discussed the terms and conditions of the new contract, which took effect on November 1.

"During the meeting, the contractors were advised of the timeframe to review the new contract and provide comments for consideration," the BTC statement said.

The BTC technicians' dispute has its origins in the "involuntary" separation packages taken by technicians in 2015, which resulted in their status changing from BTC employees to contractors.

Following their outsourcing, they complained two years later that they received no paid vacation days, resulting in a dispute that went to the Department of Labour.

BTC, though, described the packages accepted by the technicians as voluntary after it took measures to position itself to "effectively and efficiently provide services to the consumer".

The outsourcing is likely to have been a mechanism to enable the carrier to slash costs, and better prepare itself for increased competition, by shedding the benefits it would have to provide for direct BTC employees.