The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Public Service Union President John Pinder believes executives of the Bahamas Customs Immigration and Allied Workers Union should adjust their tactics in negotiating with the government and drop their preoccupation with securing overtime pay and settle for a variety of benefits and increments instead.

His statement to The Tribune came after Labour Minister Shane Gibson said the Bahamas Customs Immigration and Allied Workers Union (BCIAWU) is one of a few public sector groups that has not completed an industrial agreement despite years of negotiation with the government.

Speaking outside Cabinet, Mr Gibson said: “We heard some of the executives from the customs and immigration union on the radio yesterday talking about this government not being a labour friendly government and I just want to send a message to the executives because obviously they don’t want to complete this industrial agreement.

“We plead to the members and those hard working customs and immigration officers to look around you. Every single union besides customs and the doctors have reached an agreement with the government. And the doctors’ contract expired more recently than the customs’ contract.

“Every other one, the nurses union signed an agreement, Bahamas Union of Teachers signed a contract, BPSU signed a contract, the Bridge Authority signed a contract, ZNS, air traffic controllers have an agreement, every union has an agreement. Customs and immigration officers should ask a question, why is it that every other public services group signed an agreement but customs and immigration have yet to sign it? We have monies we want to pay them. All we are asking is for customs and immigration executives to come to the table. We want to conclude the agreement. We want to do something for them.”

Several years ago, the BCIAWU broke away from the BPSU amid a dispute over the government’s decision to end overtime pay for the workers.

Mr Pinder said yesterday that the group must recognise that it lacks the leverage it thinks it has.

He noted that pressure from international organisations to significantly reduce custom tariffs and the development of technology that could be used to modernise customs related processes means that the officers should realise they will never get overtime pay.

“They are not being realistic,” Mr Pinder said. “They need to forget about overtime and try and go and get some benefits; some risk allowance that would up the salary in the absence of overtime; get some allowances. But they need to focus on the need for IT education. Senior customs officers’ salaries are higher than someone who comes into the public sector with a CPA.”

“From the time they took over with their own union, only thing they got were two lump payments. They refuse to accept the fact that only so much you can get. They were advised by Obie (Ferguson) and others that leaving the BPSU would put them in a position to get their overtime back when the government made their decision to take them off it. But when BPSU had to negotiate with the government, we got them $400 increase a month for all officers across the board except guards who (got) $280 temporarily. We got them a shift allowance and shift premium. We got them insurance coverage and assistance with securing a career path where no officer needs to be in training for 12 months.”