The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Industrial Tribunal has thrown the Bahamian private sector “a curve ball out of left field”, a prominent businessman arguing that companies were too “tapped out” to absorb its recent ground-breaking decision.

Reacting to the Tribunal’s finding (see other story on Page 1B) that all Bahamian employees were effectively entitled by law to an extra week of paid vacation, Dionisio D’Aguilar said it meant Superwash would get nothing in return for paying out 100 weeks of wages.

Calling on businesses to “ignore” the Tribunal ruling, Mr D’Aguilar said it was symptomatic of why the Bahamas was in a recession and the unemployment rate was not going down.

“I find it troubling that one person could suddenly change what has been the understanding of the Employment Act for the last 13 years,” he told Tribune Business of Tribunal president, Harrison Lockhart. “That decision will open the floodgates for people to contest that.

“My advice to the business community is to ignore him, as that is not the intent and spirit of the Act, and not the way it has been interpreted for 13 years. This needs to go up to a higher body to make that determination, because I’m certain that was not the intent of the writers and drafters of the Act.”

Pointing out that the Bahamian private sector was already having to contend with Value-Added Tax (VAT) preparations, and dealing with the cost increases resulting from the 2013-2014 Budget’s new and increased taxes, Mr D’Aguilar said it had now been “thrown this curve ball out of left field.

“No wonder there’s a recession,” he added. “I don’t think we’re in a position to accept this [Tribunal ruling] hook, line and sinker. Obviously, this has to go to court and be determined by a judge.”

Emphasising that he “completely disagrees” with the Tribunal verdict, Mr D’Aguilar said it would be another blow to the economy;s job-creating sector if it stood.

“Every day it’s getting more expensive, and they wonder why we have such a high crime rate and high unemployment rate,” he told Tribune Business. “You have these things coming out and discouraging you from expanding your business and creating employment.

“Now, in one fell swoop, you’ve given everyone an additional paid week off. We’re taxed out, tapped out. We’ve been abused by the roadworks, our taxes have gone up, you have VAT looming on the horizon..

“I expect unemployment to go up considerably with all this negative talk. There’s nothing positive. It’s all about tax the businessman more, get more out of them. It’s dampening the spirit. If that’s the intention of the Government, fine. Unemployment will go up, people will not want to start or expand their businesses. Businesspeople want to be left alone to run their businesses.”

Mr D’Aguilar suggested no other country had interpreted employment laws in the way the Industrial Tribunal had done noting that a week was seven days, and employees were entitled to 48 hours off.

Arguing that the Government and politicians “need to jump on this right away”, the well-known businessman concluded that the Tribunal verdict was “complete rubbish. It’s crazy; not workable”.