The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Communications and Public Officers Union Secretary-General Dino Rolle yesterday claimed “battle weary” union members were being left to “operate in the dark” after BTC CEO Leon Williams refused to clarify how many employees the company planned to layoff, or a date the layoffs will take effect.

Speaking to The Tribune moments before the BCPOU’s members meeting last night, Mr Rolle said despite not seeing any improvements in the proposed industrial agreement, he said members “have been at it for a while and they are ready to move on.”

The BCPOU represents line staff at BTC.

He added that members of the BCPOU were not pleased but would probably just accept voluntary separation packages and the new contract because they want the process to be over.

“You never know what they will decide at this point,” Mr Rolle said.

“But it is so sad that we still do not have a number from the company of how many people they are planning to let go, or a date. We are operating in the dark and this is an unusual way to do business.”

He added: “I see now they are refuting the 140 number we said but I will say this, we did not pull that out of the sky.”

On Sunday, Mr Rolle accused the company’s managers of threatening employees to concede on long-held benefits and lay off terms he labelLed unfavourable.

He suggested that BTC’s management planned to let go 140 employees at some point this week.

However, that number was strongly refuted by BTC’s CEO Leon Williams, who said he was “taken aback” by those claims.

During a press conference held on Monday, Mr Williams dismissed reports that the company had finalised a list or a number of employees who will be made redundant. However, he did say the layoffs would happen “very soon.”

Meanwhile, BTC’s executive management announced yesterday that the company had secured a three-year industrial agreement with the Bahamas Communication and Public Managers Union (BCPMU), which took immediate effect.

In a press statement released yesterday, BTC stated that the signing of the new agreement allowed employees in management identified to exit the business access to the voluntary separation package (VSEP), which was originally offered back in March.

The original offer included “a more attractive salary incentive, medical coverage award, a training award and the ability to freeze pension funds and collect funds when they become available, adding that employees in areas identified for outsourcing would be offered fixed term contracts during the transition period.”

Yesterday’s statement said: “The terms of the new agreement, effective April 1, 2014, now affords BTC the opportunity to adjust its operations to meet customer requirements for competition.”

Mr Williams has previously said that BTC was only interested in doing what was best to prepare the company for competition in the mobile phone market.