The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE


Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian trade union leader yesterday said he backed alternative dispute resolution (ADR) “100 per cent” as a mechanism for resolving industrial conflicts.

Attorney Obie Ferguson, who gave a presentation yesterday at the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association’s (CWWA) ADR workshop, told Tribune Business: “I would definitely support, 100 per cent, a mechanism for the resolution of disputes, and some form of dispute resolution, in all industrial agreements for that matter.”

“I have asked my colleagues to make sure when they are negotiating that they incorporate a dispute resolution mechanism. I think it makes sense. It’s even good for disputes within families. It allows for the issues to be examined as opposed to the persons, and so I do support ADR.”

Mr. Ferguson said that the Industrial Tribunal, to which industrial/labour disputes are often referred, was overwhelmed with cases it was unable to dispose of in a timely manner.

He called on the Government to amend the law to allow certain cases before the Tribunal to be fast-tracked, and to permit for the Tribunal to effectively enforce its own decisions.

During his presentation, Mr Ferguson said that while the National Insurance Board (NIB) was incorporating tips and commissions into how it calculated due contributions, such income was excluded from the Employment Act definition of basic pay.

“Commissioned agents are generally viewed in the Bahamas as independent contractors. That is not correct,” said Mr Ferguson.

He has argued this issue - that commissions formed part of the basic wage - on behalf of John Hanna, a former Imperial Life worker, in a case where he was ultimately successful - the dispute going all the way to the Privy Council in London.

“I appeared at the Privy Council in a matter on that very same issue. And in that case the court affirmed that commission is wage, and we were able to calculate the notice pay based on commission, vacation pay based on commission but, to a great extent, there are a number of companies who are still not recognising commission as wages,” Mr Ferguson said.

“They view it to be something other than wage. National Insurance has to be paid on it, and all other benefits have to be paid on commission. Even though the Privy Council has made a ruling there is still view on that.”