The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Business executives yesterday described the Prime Minister's weekend "heart and soul" attack over temporary COVID-19 lay-offs as unfortunate as the controversy continued to simmer.

Brent Burrows, general manager of CBS Bahamas (Commonwealth Building Supplies), told Tribune Business he was "very disappointed" in Dr Hubert Minnis' remarks, and said: "Over the last five years, businesses in The Bahamas have really been catching hell.

"We got hit with the additional VAT (value added tax) and the economy was just slow. Now, I must admit over the last year things had started to turn around, but this fallacy that businesses in The Bahamas are rolling in money is just not true."

The prime minister, at his weekly COVID-19 press briefing, hit out at unnamed proprietors over the speed and seeming eagerness at which they laid-off staff once the tourism shutdown and subsequent national lockdown occurred.

"I am extremely disappointed when I see Bahamian companies laying off individuals who had worked with them ten, 20 years, Dr Minnis said. "(Employees) who had made them wealthy; who had given them the opportunity to send their children to university both here and abroad; who have given them opportunities for their children to become professionals and leaders in this country; who have given them opportunity to live in lavish homes and have great lives - individuals (and) Bahamians who are from humble beginnings but who have made sacrifices to make fellow Bahamians wealthy and living good.

"Yet after all the sacrifices these Bahamians did, those who have attained wealth have laid off such Bahamians. I ask you, are you humane? Where is your heart? Where is your compassion? Do you have a soul?"

Mr Burrows, though, pointed out: "It is very expensive to do business in The Bahamas, and the reality is that you know you need to make a decision. We still need to pay all of our vendors, we are still paying electricity, and we are still paying health insurance.

"The bills don't stop just because you're closed. Tuesday made 30 days that we had zero dollars coming into the cash till. I'm not saying that we should have been open, I'm just saying that I think his remarks were unfortunate."

Christopher Clarke, general manager of Twenty-First Century Hardware, said: "To try to pick pieces out of the Prime Minister's statement, it is unfortunate. That was a press release, and I am sure he didn't intend for it to have all of that.

"I think we do have businesses that are open and who have made a success with the workers of this country, and I think we have a responsibility when things are bad to try to stomach it as best as we can.

"I'm sure that was not a part of his total intent. However, I feel as if I have a responsibility to my staff that even though it is bad to try and handle it as best as I can. Another person can probably handle it a little longer than others, and so that is where the difference comes in," Mr Clarke added.

"I know that I have a responsibility to say that with the first sign of trouble we don't pack up and say everyone go home. A person gives you ten to 20 years of their life, you have a responsibility, and if you put in blood, sweat and tears into your job, at the first sign of dark clouds it isn't right for your employer to come out and say go home and lay you off.

"I don't think that is right, so if that is his intent in saying it then that is OK because we all as workers feel that when you can tell someone to go home, they are men and they have families and responsibilities, and so you can't do that," he continued.

"You can't tell a man to go home at the first sign of trouble. You have some businesses here that have been doing well for many, many years, and we have not amassed what those companies that have been around for 30 or 50 years have. But yet as small as I am I feel a responsibility and an obligation to do my little part with whatever my little is. So certainly those larger companies with larger resources can do more."

Patricia Cleare, general manager of Screws and Fasteners World, said: "I know I didn't lay off my staff. I just asked them to take a break and claim from NIB (National Insurance Board), but as soon as things are up and running and back to normal, I will be bringing my staff back in.

"I think it depends on the circumstances of individuals. Some people may not see the rebound because they lost so much business, and they may not be able to rebound. That might be a problem, so it all depends."