The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Industrial unrest is brewing at Morton Salt, as the company and its German owners prepare to this week open a $1.2 million administration building to replace facilities destroyed by Hurricane Ike.

The Bahamas Industrial Manufacturers & Allied Workers Union (BIMAWU), which represents around 100 line staff at Inagua’s largest employer, and their attorney, are opposing the company’s position on overtime pay and its alleged “unilateral variation” of the work week. (See lead article on Page 3B)

The latter issue, they told Tribune Business, violates the previous industrial agreement between the two sides. And they also expressed unhappiness with the pay terms being offered by Morton for a new industrial agreement.

Alleging that Morton Salt is offering a collective 5.5 per cent base pay increase over a three-year period, the union is arguing that this will fail to compensate for the cost of living increasing that will result from 7.5 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT).

However, Morton Salt has effectively refuted the ‘offer’ terms as outlined by the union.

In an e-mail to Tribune Business, responding to this newspaper’s inquiries, it said it had offered its Bahamian employees a 10.5 per cent wage increase over a five-year period.

This offer, Morton said, was contained in its “last, final and best offer” presented to the union in August 2014, and it has simply been waiting on the BIMAWU to “ratify” the proposal.

It is now accusing the union of making “false and inflammatory comments” about Moron’s relationship with its Bahamian employees to “delay the ratification process”.

Tribune Business interviews with all parties involved indicate that the situation is being exacerbated by the union’s inability to obtain a date from the Industrial Tribunal for a hearing on its overtime grievances.

The union and its attorney, Trades Union Congress (TUC) president Obie Ferguson, told Tribune Business that no date had been forthcoming since the matter went to the Industrial Tribunal in February this year.

Mr Ferguson also expressed unhappiness with the Government, saying it appeared to have made no progress in resolving this and other TUC member-related matters, despite Prime Minister Perry Christie telling him in August that he had appointed a team to deal with the issues.

Mr Ferguson said that apart from Mr Christie himself, the ‘team’ included his senior policy adviser Sir Baltron Bethel and Bishop Neil Ellis.

And Mr Ferguson also complained that the Minister of Labour, and Registrar of Trade Unions, had obtained an injunction preventing the Morton Salt union from advancing towards industrial action on an incorrect basis - that the union had failed to properly complete an originating application to initiate the matter at the Industrial Tribunal.

The TUC president said the application had been properly completed in 2008, making it a six-year wait on the union’s part for the matter to progress.

“The union made an application to have the matter dealt with at the Tribunal in 2008. It is now 2014,” Mr Ferguson told Tribune Business. “It’s principally on the overtime, and the unilateral variation of the work week.

“The company’s position is that if you work overtime on your second day, and day off, the company only pays you time and a half.

“The Employment Act says that if you work on your day off, and on public holidays, you are entitled to be paid double time. The company has taken an intransigent position, that it won’t pay double time, only time and a half, despite the Employment Act saying so.”

This, though, was vehemently denied by Morton, which offered to produce the overtime law and language from its industrial agreement if needed.

“When it comes to overtime, Morton Bahamas Ltd has been in compliance with the law prior to the union representation, and still today,” a spokesperson said.

They accused the union of using the overtime issue, and efforts to get a date before the Industrial Tribunal, as “a stalling tactic” designed to delay its response to its industrial agreement proposal.

“We are very disappointed that the union has chosen to make false and inflammatory comments about our relationship with employees in Inagua to further delay the ratification process,” the Morton spokesperson said.

“The truth is, we have a strong relationship with employees that is rooted in mutual respect and trust. We believe the union is using their interpretation of the legal definition of overtime as another stalling tactic.

As for the industrial agreement negotiations themselves, the Morton spokesperson said: “The negotiations are complete and we presented our last, final and best offer to the union, at their request, in August 2014.

“We have been awaiting ratification of our proposed five-year agreement. This agreement includes wage increases for Morton Bahamas employees every year of the agreement.

“Specifically, employees would receive wage increases totalling 10.5 per cent over the course of the five-year agreement. It is our hope that the union ratifies the agreement soon so that Morton Bahamas employees can enjoy retroactive wage increases, which have been accruing since March 1, 2013.

“In addition to competitive wages, we are offering a generous benefits package that includes medical, dental, vacation time, a retirement savings plan and other benefits.”

Mr Ferguson, meanwhile, said he had “tried over and over again” to have a subsequent meeting with the Prime Minister on the Morton Salt issue, but to no avail.

“The morale of the staff is very low,” he told Tribune Business, arguing that it was impossible to complete and ratify the proposed industrial agreement until the Tribunal had dealt with the overtime issue.

Mr Ferguson said there were some 600 cases in front of the Morton Salt matter at the Tribunal.

He argued that the harsh start to the US winter season had created extra demand for Morton Salt’s products, and thus it should be able to make a more generous financial offer to the union given the likelihood of higher profits.

“I think it’s reasonable for there to be an increase because the state of the economy in the Bahamas is not linked to Morton Salt,” Mr Ferguson said. “Morton Salt does not need the economy of the Bahamas to determine its success or failure.”

Morton Salt’s ultimate parent is K+S, a German company.