The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Government intervened to prevent the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) laying off some 200 staff before Christmas, forcing the company to delay the process until the New Year.

Both Shane Gibson, minister of labour and national insurance, and Bernard Evans, president of the trade union’s line staff, confirmed yesterday that the Government used its 49 per cent equity stake in BTC to intervene with its partner and controlling shareholder, Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC).

Mr Gibson said the Government had been told that BTC was streamlining in preparation for cellular liberalisation and the arrival of competition in its most lucrative market.

“I have not spoken officially to the union and I do not have all of the details at this time,” he added. “BTC wanted to do the lay-offs last year but the Government intervened and got them to put it off. Now they are saying they cannot put if off any longer.

“This is not the first or second or third time they have offered voluntary separation packages. This is unfortunate and we never like to see people made redundant or laid-off for any reason. We would have liked for them to keep those people on and monitor the progress before they decided to do this,” Mr Gibson added.

   “We can oppose as much as we can, but this is not one of the instances where there is much we can do. We know this is going to be hard for persons, especially the older persons, who will find it hard to get employment again because of their age.”

This is the second time the Government intervened pre-Christmas with a large employer to preserve jobs, having managed to successfully stop 300 seasonal lay-offs at Atlantis.

BTC has gone through several downsizing exercises since its 2011 privatisation and purchase by Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC).

Its first Voluntary Separation Package saw some 350 staff leave the carrier, and BTC/CWC have reintroduced this in a bid to avoid moving to compulsory redundancies. The planned headcount reduction would cut staff numbers from the present 779 to between 579 and 629.

Mr Evans, the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) head, acknowledged there had been talk of BTC looking to cut some 200 staff pre-Christmas.

“We were not told any thing officially from the Government, but we heard that the Government would not have allowed it,” Mr Evans said.

“We figured that th eGovernment had recently negotiated 2 per cent back, and should have had more say, albeit they didn’t have management control. What changed in two months? Is the Government now saying that they are allowing it? It’s just really frustrating.”

Mr Evans told Tribune Business that BTC management informed the union on Tuesday they had been given instructions to offer voluntary separation packages to all staff, with the deadline for acceptance set for March 6.

“They want to reduce staff by March 31. That was the shocker. We thought there would have been some sort of dialogue. It is supposed to be so immediate and that is what is so insulting,” Mr Evans said.

“Why now? Why the rush? Given whatever excuses they might have that they are looking at the forecast with a new entrant coming in, BTC is not hemorrhaging. We kept asking management about this. Every time the rumor would heat up they would say that they knew nothing about it. They were not operating in good faith at all.

“With competition looming you would think they would have a better relationship with worker representatives.”

Mr Evans said that while it has been speculated that the company was looking to cut about 150 staff, management has not officially confirmed that number.

“The company has embarked on a $100 million reduction in operational expenses. We thought that was supposed to be derived from head count reduction. That was supposed to be across the region, and the Bahamas was not immune from that,” Mr Evans added.

“We thought that we had met our optimum head count requirement, given  the makeup of the country and the fact that you have to duplicate certain offices. We heard it but we also heard that that was not to be the case; they were going to launch a new TV product and you would think that instead of reducing staff they would need to add a couple staff.”

Mr Evans said employees were distraught and taken aback by the urgency with which BTC has presented the voluntary separation packages.

“Even though some may want to take it there were people who applied and couldn’t get it because they said it was off the table,” he added.

“Some people had looked at other opportunities before and now they may have lost those opportunities because they were told this was off the table. This was a real sneaky way of doing things. That is what has us so up in arms.”

Bradley Roberts, BTC’s vice-chairman and lead government representative on the company’s Board, yesterday told Tribune Business he was “out of the loop on that one” because he was in Trinidad for its carnival.

He added that he was unaware of BTC’s plans to downsize its workforce pre-Christmas 2014.