By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
DEPUTY Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said yesterday he was “unaware” of reported plans to let go an estimated 200 employees from the Bahamas Electricity Corporation after the government owned entity is taken over by new management.
Speaking to The Tribune yesterday, Mr Davis said while discussions between the government commissioned task force and American company PowerSecure are well advanced, potential lay offs have not been discussed.
Last week, a well-placed source who did not want to be named told The Tribune that an estimated 200 of BEC’s 1,200 employees might be let go in an effort to streamline the corporation.
Mr Davis’ comments also followed those of Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) President Paul Maynard who last week said Prime Minister Perry Christie assured both him and Bahamas Electrical Utilities Managerial Union (BEUMU) President Clinton Minnis that there would be “minimal lay offs” at BEC as a result of new management.
At the time Mr Maynard told The Tribune that he and Mr Minnis met with the prime minister late last Wednesday to discuss possible layoffs at BEC after PowerSecure takes over.
He said he was “relieved” to discover that Mr Christie had the same concerns about job security and was willing to work with union leaders to “save as many jobs as possible”.
Yesterday Mr Davis, who is also minister of works with responsibility for BEC, said it would be premature to speculate about mass lay offs.
“I don’t know anything about (lay offs),” Mr Davis said. “The discussions between the task force and the new management company are still ongoing. It would be premature to speculate something like at this point because the task force and the management company are still in talks. These discussions are well advanced in terms of the direction the restructuring should take.
“But as far as I am advised, there have been no discussions in that regard.”
Last week, Mr Maynard told The Tribune that while he has been advised that most jobs will be protected at BEC, some people would ultimately be let go.
“The meeting went very well and he (Mr Christie) assured us that there will not be massive layoffs at the corporation,” the union leader said. “We will have a larger scale meeting next week to finalise all the details.
“He also has a problem with the possibility of job loss. He doesn’t want that to happen, he doesn’t want what happened at BTC to happen at BEC. Do not get me wrong, people will have to be let go, but it will not be on the large scale that was expected.”
It was announced last month that PowerSecure International was selected as the new management company of BEC, nearly two years after the government announced plans to restructure the cash-strapped electricity provider.
In a statement, it was revealed that PowerSecure received a five-year contract to oversee generation and transmission/distribution at BEC.
The new management company is expected to lower electricity costs, increase energy security and reliability, and increase competitiveness as a country.
BEC will be restructured similarly to the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) model, with the government retaining 100 per cent ownership and PowerSecure acting as the manager.
Comments
Romrok 9 years, 7 months ago
Haha. Liar, and they would put him in power again.
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 7 months ago
Already we see the pudgy one with the short stubby grubby dirty sticky fingers agitating for government interference in the management of BEC by PowerSecure. Meanwhile, the sip sip has it that PowerSecure believe they need to terminate more than 50% of BEC's current employees in order to achieve the meaningful electricity rate reductions Bahamians would like to see. To provide reliable electrical power to numerous islands at reasonable cost, PowerSecure reckons this must be done with no more than about 500 BEC employees; otherwise, the substantial cost reductions urgently needed by consumers will not be achieved.
Romrok 9 years, 7 months ago
Sounds good too me, too many civil servants getting a free ride on our backs. When that much of the budget is on a bloated service to buy votes, we cant invest monies where we need to to improve the country. Make them work for a living, see how they do with a private sector salary based on performance rather than union/government theifing.
Alltoomuch 9 years, 7 months ago
With nobody in Government knowing what's going on in anyone's elses department - let alone their own - is this country still functioning??
ThisIsOurs 9 years, 7 months ago
Why is he minister of anything? He is clearly only suitable for the ministerial post of "I Don't Know"
asiseeit 9 years, 7 months ago
Just before election BAMSI is going to hire 10,000 Bahamians to come and pick the fruits. Them bank tellers that used to sit in nice AC better start getting used to the hot sun.
FNM_Retards 9 years, 7 months ago
FNM and PLP say they believe in Bahamians
the list goes on.
Foreign companies are laughing all the way to the bank. They say the Bahamas is a country of IDIOTS that cant do anything themselves. Except ofcourse run around a field and clean hotel rooms.
A country of slaves. WTF??? Maybe its time to WAKE UP BAHAMAS.
STOP VOTING FOR FNM AND PLP AS THEY THINK YOU ARE DUMB STUPID ANIMALS. THEY THINK YOU ARE NOT WORTH SHIT COMPARED TO A FOREIGNER. THEY THINK THIS COUNTRY IS FULL OF TOTAL IDIOTS WITHOUT ENOUGH BRAINS TO DO THE MOST BASIC THINGS. VOTE FOR ANYTHING BUT FNM AND PLP, JUST SAY NO TO FNM AND PLP, TELL FNM AND PLP ABOUT THEY STINK BACKSIDE. TELL THEM YOU HAD ENOUGH. SHOW THEM YOU HAD ENOUGH.
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