The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The union representing more than 100 line staff at Morton Salt has called on the company to “come to their senses” and prioritise resolving outstanding labour issues, accusing it of dictating as opposed to negotiating.

Jennifer Brown, president of the Bahamas Industrial Manufacturers & Allied Workers Union (BIMAWU), told Tribune Business the union was at odds with Morton over its definition of overtime and proposed base salary increase for workers.

The union is claiming that since November 2013, negotiations between the two sides have been at a standstill.

Morton Salt, though, in a statement issued to Tribune Business, refuted the union’s claims, explaining that it was waiting for the latter to “ratify” the five-year industrial agreement.

It accused the union of using the overtime issue as a “stalling tactic” to delay ratifying the proposed agreement, and expressed unhappiness at the “inflammatory” language being employed.

A Morton Salt spokesperson also said the company had offered the union and its members a much higher, and more generous, base salary increase than the latter was claiming.

Still, Ms Brown said: “We were negotiating last year up until the end of October, but we came to a stalemate when the issue came up about how they pay on double time, because they wanted to pay time and a half and we wanted it to be included in a contract.

“Our advisor was telling them that on your day off it is supposed to be double time. They had a different view of that. We went to the Labour Department. The conciliator could not interpret to say we were supposed to be paid double time, and she didn’t want to refer us to the Tribunal, so the company said that’s the way we will take it and ceased to negotiate.

“We were actually at the part where we were talking about increasing wages. They wanted to give a 1 per cent increase, and they said they were going to hold off until the Tribunal made an interpretation because they didn’t know what kind of impact it would have as far as wages were concerned,” she added.

“We went to the Tribunal in February for two days. The president said they were moving to a new building, and from that day to now we haven’t heard anything. It’s as if they weren’t concerned in resolving the issue. We have been there before, and for some reason it’s a slow process. It’s as if no one cares and there is nothing you can do.”

Ms Brown added that the union was not satisfied with the company’s proposal for increases over three years of the contract at only 5.5 per cent, and alleged that Morton was not prioritising the workers’ concerns.

“They are getting set to open a new $1.2 million building. They claim they have no money. They are not prioritising,” said Ms Brown.

“As far as spending money they are not cutting back on areas where they should. Our concern is that we have issues that need to be dealt with. VAT is coming into play, 7.5 per cent, and they want to give you for one year, 1.1 per cent, and the next year, 1.5 per cent.”

Ms Brown said there were 126-130 persons employed at Morton. “We have a lot of part-time workers or who they claim they are going to put on the payroll,” she added.

“They have been bringing in persons and having them work three months, letting them go for a week or two and bringing them back so they would not have to make them permanent. Our contract stipulates that after three months they have to be made permanent.

“We can’t even get our agreement finished because of this issue at the Tribunal. We can’t sign it. We are hoping that they will come to their senses. They aren’t negotiating; they are dictating,” said Ms Brown.

Robert Farquharson, director of labour, told Tribune Business he was aware of the BIMAWU and Morton Bahamas matter.

“That matter was filed as a trade dispute. Both the company and the union agreed to have the matter sent on to the Industrial Tribunal for interpretation. It has been at the Tribunal from, I think, March or April of this year,” he said.

“All of the necessary documents have been filed and they are waiting for the Tribunal to give them a date. The Tribunal falls outside the scope of the executive branch. We have an independent judiciary. My Minister cannot influence that process. I know that we were asked recently, as a ministry, to find out exactly what the status of the matter was and we would have communicated that to Obie Ferguson, advising him that we did the necessary checks and the Tribunal was still waiting to set a date.”