The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) president yesterday called for a “complete revamp” of key labour legislation because employers were now insisting on the “letter of the law” with respect to union and industrial agreement registration.

Obie Ferguson told Tribune Business that a complete overhaul of the Industrial Relations Act and Employment Act were necessary to deal with all the “nuances” arising in the current environment.

In the ongoing quarrel between the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) and the Meliá Nassau Beach Resort, union executives now claim the hotel no longer recognises it as the bargaining agent for its non-managerial staff. 

This comes just weeks after the resort’s decision to stop deducting member dues from staff salaries and passing them on to the union, in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that found there had been no valid industrial agreement in place since 2003.

“I think that there is a fundamental issue. Where an industrial agreement is not registered, the terms of that agreement is not enforceable,” Mr Ferguson said.

“Where an industrial agreement was registered and expired, the terms of the industrial agreement becomes the terms of the individual worker. Whereas years ago it was not a controversial issue between the employer and the union, because of the working relationship that existed, these days employers are insisting on the letter of the law as it relates to registration.”

Mr Ferguson added: “There has been a fundamental change. There was a time when, once the employer and the union signed an agreement, both parties honoured it.

“Now, even though you may have an agreement executed by the parties, if it is not registered the parties cannot rely on it to enforce its terms. An industrial agreement is a creature of statute; it doesn’t operate like a regular commercial contract or employment contract.

“It creates a difficulty. In law the union will have a problem, there is no question about that. If the agreement is not a registered agreement or the union is not a registered union, it doesn’t make it legal because the Act says in order for a union to be a union it must have a certificate of registration.”

Mr Ferguson continued: “We need a complete revamp of the Industrial Relations Act and the Employment Act in the Bahamas. We have all of these nuances coming on stream as a result of these multinational companies.

“They come here with all kinds of new developments. We have a  system that has been in existence since 1970. This is now 2015. Under the present system you can have a worker who works for 30 years, and another who works for 12 years, and they both get the same compensation. That cannot be right.

“Under the current system there is no obligation for the employer to give notice of redundancy.  The right to join a union must be a fundamental right. How can you tell a worker they can’t join a union? The Government should resist that vehemently.”