The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A union leader yesterday promised “a revolt” if the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) tried to outsource even one job, as company insiders suggested there was “a lot of truth” to claims it is planning to move key back office functions offshore.

Bernard Evans, the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union’s (BCPOU) president, told Tribune Business that he hoped Free National Movement (FNM) allegations that BTC is set to outsource its call centre and Information Technology (IT) operations elsewhere in the region were “only rumours”.

BTC executives were tight-lipped yesterday on FNM claims that the communications provider was planning to move “significant chunks” of its back office IT operations to Miami, while call centre functions were set to be switched to Central America - either Panama or El Salvador. Both moves would likely result in significant Bahamian redundancies.

Marlon Johnson, BTC’s senior vice-president of sales and marketing, would only say: “We don’t comment on rumours and speculation.”

He did not, though, deny the FNM allegations when pressed by Tribune Business. And sources close to BTC management confirmed to this newspaper, on condition of anonymity, that there was “a lot of truth” to the Opposition party’s claims - including the assertion that plans are afoot to restore Leon Williams, who was removed prior to the 2011 privatisation, as BTC’s chief executive.

But, when contacted by Tribune Business, Mr Evans, who heads the union representing BTC’s line staff, said he was unaware of any plans to outsource Bahamian jobs and key back office functions.

“Isn’t it ironic that the FNM would know, because they sold BTC,” he told this newspaper. “We cautioned prior to the sale of BTC that we knew that [outsourcing, cost cutting] to be the trend of Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), ever since it demerged from Cable & Wireless Worldwide in 2010.”

Darron Cash, the FNM’s chairman, said in a statement yesterday that the “aggressive outsourcing deal” included the introduction of a new foreign company, part-owned by global communications equipment manager, Ericsson.

“The extent to which there will be Bahamian participation in the new company that Ericsson will control is not yet clear,” Mr Cash added.

Mr Evans, for his part, told Tribune Business that despite CWC clearly indicating its desire to consolidate certain BTC back office functions in Caribbean regional centres, the former government had promised the union that the Bahamas would be exempt from such initiatives.

“We were promised by the previous government that this would not happen, that BTC would not be part of LIME [CWC’s Caribbean affiliate], that their policy for the Caribbean would not impact the Bahamas,” Mr Evans.

CWC, though, is currently on a cost-cutting drive that aims to strip $100 million in expenses out of its Caribbean business by April 2015. And Tim Pennington, its outgoing chief financial officer, previously said the Bahamas and BTC would “not be immune” from these plans.

Mr Evans said CWC/LIME had already outsourced maintenance of its outside plant/infrastructure in numerous Caribbean nations, such as Jamaica, Grenada, Barbados and the Turks & Caicos Islands. Call centres had also received similar treatment.

The BCPOU chief warned: “We’ve said that if they attempt to do any such thing in outsourcing the outside plant and the call centres, there will be a revolt.

“The BCPOU will not allow that to happen. BTC would have to come to an end; it would not be business as usual. We can’t afford to lose one job out of the Bahamas.”

CWC, via business sales in Macau and elsewhere, has become a carrier almost entirely focused on Panama and the Caribbean. It has switched its head office from London to Coral Gables, and Mr Evans yesterday voiced concern that BTC’s 49 per cent shareholder would seek to “micromanage” the Bahamas from Florida.

“We are watching this one very carefully, and the one thing we have on our side is that they need the business in the Bahamas to operate,” he told Tribune Business.

“They will not be allowed to outsource jobs outside the Bahamas, certainly not piecemeal like that. They’re going to have to deal with us en masse, as one team. We’re not going to allow that to happen. We’re going to defend every job. I hope it’s only rumours.”

Mr Evans added that neither BTC’s chief executive, Geoff Houston, not the three government directors on the company’s Board - Bradley Roberts, Rowena Bethel and Mr Williams - had given any indication of outsourcing plans.

Warning that CWC could also spark a mass staff exodus if it went ahead with what the FNM was claiming, the union chief said BTC workers would have “no loyalty to them” - a dangerous position with cellular competition on the horizon.

Mr Evans said he was due to fly to Exuma today with Mr Houston and other BTC ‘top brass’ to meet staff there, and promised to question them on the Opposition’s allegations.

Mr Houston did not return Tribune Business messages and e-mails seeking comment, and nor did Franklyn Wilson, head of the Government’s negotiating committee that handled talks over the ‘BTC 2 per cent’.

However, the FNM alleged that Mr Williams’s return as chief executive, replacing Mr Houston, was directly tied to the “massive programme of outsourcing that could result in the loss of several hundred Bahamian jobs”. It added that this was against the Bahamas’ national interests.

Mr Williams, who was removed as BTC’s chief executive by the former FNM administration prior to the privatisation, was appointed as ‘special adviser’ to the company’s chairman (and CWC chief executive) Phil Bentley as part of the agreement that saw CWC relinquish 2 per cent of its former 51 per cent holding in the carrier to the BTC Foundation.

Several observers previously suggested to Tribune Business this was designed to placate Mr Williams, who the Christie administration had promised would be returned as BTC chief executive.

The FNM’s allegations, and BTC’s response, are also likely to fuel concerns that there is much more to the ‘Foundation’ deal that was struck between CWC and the Government than either party has yet revealed.

Mr Wilson has previously said the agreement is still being finalised, which is why it has yet to be tabled in Parliament. He did, though, say that Bahamians would be in the majority on BTC’s Board, rather than the current four:three split in CWC’s favour.

It is possible that this majority is being used to return Mr Williams as chief executive, and the FNM alleged that this was the ‘trade-off’ allowing CWC to embark on the extensive outsourcing initiative.

CWC’s spokesman did not respond to calls for comment prior to press time.