The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A NUMBER of Central Bank workers called in sick yesterday to protest unresolved grievances with management.

According to president of the Union of Central Bankers, Theresa Thompson, chief among workers’ concerns is an outstanding industrial agreement that has yet to be finalised.

She said the agreement expired in January of this year and added that workers were still negotiating with bank officials.

 Asked how many people did not show up to work, Ms Thompson could not say, but noted the numbers were “a lot”.

 It is also not clear how long workers intend to take action.

 She said: “A lot of people are out from work today. They are in negotiations with the bank and they are still at an impasse. That’s all I could say at this time.”

 In June, members of the Union of Central Bankers walked off the job in a show of frustration, insisting “enough was enough”.

 The group had also received support from National Congress of Trade Unions (NCTU) president, Bernard Evans, and former Bahamas Electrical Union Workers chief, Paul Maynard.

 “The bank is unilaterally changing the terms of our industrial agreement in that a wellness bonus that we normally (receive)—that has been in our contract for about 15 to 20 years—they decided that they will not be paying it,” Ms Thompson said at the time.

“If it’s in your contract—no one decides that. They have to come and discuss that with the union which they have not. Then they are coming with new performance management. The next thing is that while 80 to 90 percent of us work from home, the expenses for COVID have shifted from the bank to home. Here it is you have to pay more light, more water. . . everything is now more at home. So all we are saying is that we need a higher stipend.

 “The last thing is that our industrial agreement has expired from January and we were in negotiations and we are not getting anywhere so we had to file trade disputes with regard to those matters.”

 Last week, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis recommitted his government to addressing outstanding labour issues during a meeting with the country’s unions.

 Immigration and Labour Minister Keith Bell, who was present at last week’s meeting, told reporters: “We had a meeting with the unions this morning and the. . . Prime Minister addressed the unions directly and indicated that this is a government which has heard their concerns, their issues…there are a number of agreements that have many outstanding issues – pay, issues relating to wage, hours of work, overtime, etc.”