The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FREEPORT – John Pinder, president of the Bahamas Public Services Union, announced that the much anticipated career path for social workers is in its final draft after six years of negotiations.

While in Grand Bahama on Saturday, Pinder met with staff at the Department of Social Services to update them on the progress of negotiations with the government.

The union president said that with the new career path, they have been able to bring social workers’ salaries on par with those at the Department of Labour.

“We were able to accomplish that in this final draft, but the staff needed to be aware of some name changes that the department wishes to implement,” he said.

Mr Pinder noted that the department wants probation officers to be re-classified as social workers.
Probation officers, he said, are reluctant to the change.

“The challenge is for them to advance; after being re-classified, they would have to do some courses to cause them to be qualified as a social worker,” he explained.

The BPSU president said because probation officers work very closely with the courts, they now wish to be attached to the judiciary.

“We have to write to the Ministry to put a hold on the name change because that group of probation officers wishes to be attached more to the judiciary system.

“They feel they ought to have their own department similar to the way it is done in other jurisdictions,” he added.

In New Providence, Mr Pinder said, there have also been upgrades in the job titles at youth rehabilitation facilities such as the Willamae Pratt Centre and the Simpson Penn Centre.

The position of superintendant will be introduced at those institutions.

“The superintendant that would be responsible for those institutions would be equivalent to that of an assistant director,” Mr Pinder explained.

“And persons that are presently called supervisors who supervises the residences will take on a new job title,” he said.

Mr Pinder said the union is in the process of concluding negotiations on a number of the outstanding industrial agreements, including contracts for College of the Bahamas, NAD and Public Hospitals Authority workers.

He said the industrial agreement at COB expired in 2009.

“We are closing the gap on those negotiations and we hope to have that concluded by the end of the month,” he told reporters at the BPSU Hall in Freeport.

“We are also closing an industrial agreement with NAD. I have spoken with consultant Huedley Moss and we will begin negotiations soon with the airport authority.”

Mr Pinder said that the union wants health insurance coverage implemented at all government agencies, in phases.

He believes that those persons employed in high risks jobs and those who are exposed to a number of hazardous environments should be considered first.

“We wish they can cover all of the public service, but it has to be in stages,” he said.

Mr Pinder said the Public Hospital Authority should consider providing health insurance coverage for security and auxiliary staff because they work very closely with nurses.

Another area of concern is the manner in which promotional exercises are being conducted, he said.
Mr Pinder said the union is not satisfied that the exercises are fair and transparent.

“We understand that when positions become available they are saying no one meets the requirement so they can bring someone in when they advertise externally.

“In some areas, they are fitting the qualification and experience for those they wish to employ over those they wish to promote,” he said.

According to Mr Pinder, the union is also looking to introduce a pension plan for persons hired by the Public Hospital Authority.

In the meantime, he said, the pay package and benefits of all government agencies would be the same across the board.

He also reported that the government is now accepting workers hired by local government boards as part of the public service.

Mr Pinder said the only problem with that is that the government does not want to recognise their years of service, so they would have to start again at entry-level salaries.

“The government is now writing them to become part of the public service, but they want to them to come in at the entry level salary of $10,700 per annum when some of them made up to $22,000.

“We think something is fundamentally wrong with that. That is the fight we have on our hands right now.

“We want the government to have some compassion on these people because in addition to losing their salary, the government does not wish recognise the years of service, and we think that those years should be taken into consideration for pension,” he said.