The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The City Markets debacle “must never, ever happen in this country again”, a representative for 350-400 of its former employees yesterday saying they would not accept “less than 80 per cent” of the severance pay due to them.

Whanslaw Turnquest, the supermarket chain’s former chief inventory control officer, told Tribune Business that the employees’ continuing struggle to secure the pay and benefits due to them was setting “a bad precedent” that threatened to undermine the Bahamas’ “credibility in doing business”.

Suggesting that the total severance pay and benefits (vacation and notice) package owed to former City Markets employees was $5.3 million, inclusive of $1.2 million owed to those who left the company between August 2011 to its March/April 2012 closure, Mr Turnquest said the chain’s last majority shareholder was offering to pay substantially less than that.

He told Tribune Business that Mark Finlayson, principal of Trans-Island Traders, which held a 78 per cent majority stake in City Markets, had taken the position that only $3 million in total severance compensation was owed.

A $1.4 million sum had been placed on the table as an offer to the employees, Mr Turnquest said, but it was not clear whether the monies had come from Trans-Island Traders or its predecessor owner, BSL Holdings.

He added that complex multi-party discussions were taking place between the attorneys for the various parties, with BSL Holdings and Trans-Island Traders’ representatives trying to untangle who is responsible for different liabilities and obligations bound-up with City Markets’ winding-up.

Trans-Island Traders is being represented by Knowles and Mackey, and BSL Holdings by Graham, Thompson & Co’s Sean McWeeney, the former attorney general and key adviser to Prime Minister Perry Christie.

Also in the mix is Higgs & Kelly’s R. James Cole, as attorney for Super Value owner Rupert Roberts, the purchaser of three City Markets leasehold interests, and James Thompson as the attorney for the employees.

Mr Turnquest, though, said yesterday that he had asked his namesake, Stephen Turnquest, the Callender’s & Co attorney and partner, to represent him as the employees’ representative, and ensure their interests were fully looked after.

Noting the $2.3 million discrepancy between the employees’ total $5.3 million severance pay calculation, and what the last owners were offering, Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business: “The Finlaysons are saying they only owe $3 million in severance pay, and are saying the payout from the pension fund is $5.6 million.

“We are willing to accept no lower than 80 per cent of the severance pay due if we have to.”

That would mean the minimum total severance compensation the staff would accept will be $4.24 million, some $1.24 million or 41.3 per cent above what Trans-Island Traders is said to be offering.

Mr Turnquest said Trans-Island and the Finlaysons were attempting to reduce their severance/benefits exposure by calculating it based on the reduced work weeks staff were on before the company closed.

He though, argued that this did not stand-up in law, and that the former City Markets workers’ severance pay had to be based on working a full work week.

And Mr Turnquest also alleged that the Finlaysons were arguing that “not all people in management are in management”.

He explained that their position was that the likes of department heads and head cashiers were line staff, not management, thereby reducing the severance payout.

Mr Turnquest alleged that this position was undermined by the actions of previous owner, Winn-Dixie, which had provided the Department of Labour with a comprehensive list of management staff in a bid to ward off the trade unions.

“I am in communication with the employees on a daily basis. They are continually calling me, asking me where things are now. What’s the conclusion?” Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business.

“We have to put closure to this. I have employees that have lost their homes, some have lost their cars. I have employees here, employees in Freeport having financial problems. I’m calling banks on behalf of employees, and I have to ensure these people get the financial and legal rights due to them.

“They’re not asking for what’s not there; they just want what is due to them by law. The pension fund is theirs. They’re not begging for anything, only asking for what they’re entitled to.”

Mr Finlayson had previously suggested to Tribune Business that he would use the $3.5 million proceeds from the sale of City Markets’ leasehold interests to compensate the workers.

However, he added that the payment from Mr Roberts was still in escrow and unaccessible until the attorneys completed their work and the deal formally closed.

But, assessing the wider implications of the situation, Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business: “If this matter is a bad precedent, it needs to be dealt with professionally, equitably, to assure the Bahamian public that there’s fair play, and the laws of the Bahamas are to protect all and sundry.

“That foreign companies coming into the Commonwealth of the Bahamas know the laws of the Bahamas are for everybody, Bahamians as well as foreigners to protect the equity of the land, protect the investment of the investor, so that there is due process in the country and the Bahamas has a level of professionalism and credibility in doing business in the Bahamas.

“We must ensure from here on that this never, ever happens again in this country.”

Arguing that the law must protect the “whole 360 degree spectrum of Bahamian society”, Mr Turnquest added: “Equitable opportunity must be displayed in our society.

“We now call ourselves a 21st century Bahamas, and we must display a level of fair play and equitable dealing for all.”

Given that many former City Markets’ staff were aged over 35-40 years old, and had skills specific to the supermarket industry, Mr Turnquest said they might find it difficult to acquire new jobs.

As a result, he said he was seeking to obtain all that was due to the workers in 
“one lump sum”, rather than as an annuity or over a period of time.

“This is now the close of 2012, and they want their money before 2013 comes in,” Mr Turnquest said. “I’m trying to secure their monies by the end of the year. I’m doing everything possible to make sure all equitable levels are being achieved.”