The Tribune

“FRUITLESS,” concluded Bahamas Electrical Workers Union president Stephano Greene as talks with government ended yesterday. And from the wings, Jennifer Isaacs Dotson, National Congress of Trade Unions president, warned that there will be “uproar in the public service” if employees are not allowed to continue their irregular practice of “double dipping” into NIB funds.

For years, most of the civil service has been allowed, after getting a sick note from their doctor, to collect their National Insurance (NIB) sick leave pay for the period they are off the job. This is as it should be. However — and this is the rub — they also collect a full salary for the same period from the public owned BEC, their employer. This is what should not be.

“Whoever heard of any employer paying his staff to stay home sick!” thundered BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller as he turned thumbs down on their demands.

According to Mrs Dotson, the National Insurance issue not only affects BEC employees, but all employees in the Bahamas. This is not true. This practice could only be found in the private sector if some poor soul was ignorant of his rights as an employer.

However, it does exist extensively in the public service. According to John Pinder, Bahamas Public Service Union president, “double dipping” is the case for all but a small number of about 24,000 public servants. Among that small number are the employees of NIB, who were also indulging until Algernon Cargill was appointed NIB director. Mr Cargill immediately stopped the dishonest practice. When the PLP took over the government, Mr Cargill was fired — in our opinion he was fired because he was too honest.

According to Mr Pinder, if government got rid of this practice, the public could be saved $8 to $10 million a year. At least this could be one contribution towards bringing down the public debt.

Mrs Dotson seems to be a woman quick to make pronouncements, but slow to apply logic.

“The little benefits they now have and in their time of crisis when they are sick,” said Mrs Dotson, “you are going to take their benefits from them when they need it the most? It is not right. What are you paying NIB for if you can’t enjoy the benefits from it? That’s what the government needs to answer.”

Mrs Dotson will not have to wait for an answer from government, because in their ranks are too many illogical thinkers like herself. We shall give the answer now.

What Mrs Dotson fails to understand is that not only is the employee paying towards those NIB benefits, but so is the employer.

In fact, the employer is paying 20 per cent more towards the benefits than is the employee. The ratio is the employer pays 60 per cent of his employee’s salary so that the employee can collect insurance while he is ill. His employee pays only 40 per cent. So why should the employee be the only one to benefit from this contribution, while the employer (in this case BEC) has to pay twice so that the employee can “double dip”? This is the question that Mrs Dotson should answer.

This issue came up early when National Insurance was first introduced in the sixties. The Hydra’s head of “double-dipping” was chopped off then. However, politicians, whose decisions were based not on what was best for the country, but on how many votes they could squeeze from their decisions, cowered before union threats. The many weeds that we are trying to remove from almost every facet of today’s society flourished from the seeds sown in the early days of PLP-ism. “Double-dipping” is one of them. Now is the time to kill it — even if a law has to be introduced to do so.

Mr Miller on taking over the chairmanship of BEC vowed to bring down this country’s exorbitantly high electrical bills. While BEC unionists are agitating for a double salary for sickness, many of their fellow Bahamians cannot even pay their electrical bills.

The average pay for a BEC worker is $42,000 a year. There is then overtime pay, NIB “double dipping”, medical insurance and a pension plan.

In the past 10 years, BEC has paid $47 million, including overtime for 1,000 workers.

Last year, Mr Miller was successful in cutting the $12 million overtime bill to $4.2 million. This apparently is what has “yucked up their vexation” – to quote from “Smokey Joe”, a local character of yesteryear.

As for their pension fund — to which they contribute nothing — BEC pays $11.5 million. Their medical plan — again they pay nothing — drains BEC of another $5 million annually. And despite the fact that BEC is losing money, the employees’ average bonus for the year comes to $1.4 million.

Now, Bahamians, do you understand why your electrical bills are so high? Any Bahamian with an ounce of sense and a thought towards his pocketbook should be backing Mr Miller in this argument with the union. Remember, Mr Miller is fighting for the average Bahamian who is the owner of BEC – not the government. This “double dipping” is what contributes to the expense of running your company and increasing your electrical bills.