The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The National Tripartite Council is set to resume negotiations over the proposed labour law reforms this Friday, one unionist saying yesterday: “We’re not as far apart as it appears.”

Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson, president of the Union of Tertiary Educators of the Bahamas (UTEB), told Tribune Business she was “optimistic” that the Council’s three members would eventually reach agreement.

Both she and Peter Goudie, one of the employer representatives on the Council, agreed that nothing had been finalised at the inaugural meeting last Thursday, despite “very vigorous and robust discussion”.

The private sector on one side, and the unions and the Government on the other, appear far apart on controversial proposals to reform the Employment Act and other key labour legislation.

Prominent are the union desires to remove the Employment Act’s existing ‘12-year cap’ on severance/redundancy pay, and to introduce a mandatory 60-day notice period that employers must give the Government and relevant bargaining agents - trade unions - when they intend to make 10 or more employees redundant.

Employers have warned that the proposed amendments threaten to increase private sector costs to the point where they will “stop people wanting to be in business”, and drive away potential foreign direct investment (FDI).

Mrs Isaacs-Dotson, though, told Tribune Business that she hoped employers and the unions would be able to “move a bit closer” to a common position during Friday’s meeting.

“We met, but we have not finished our discussion,” she said of the first encounter. “It was very good, but we have not completed it,” the UTEB president, one of the union representatives on the Council, said.

“I hope that by Friday we can come a little bit closer. I’m optimistic. I don’t think we’re so far apart as it appears. We had a lot of vigorous and robust discussion. I think we’ll get there. With patience we’ll try and move a bit closer.”

Mrs Isaacs-Dotson gave few specifics, but said she did not view the employers’ position “as resistance”, acknowledging that Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) representatives had an equal duty to their members.

Still, emphasising that the proposed reforms were “very, very important” to the labour movement, she told Tribune Business: “We don’t want to see Bahamian workers taken advantage of.

“We’re trying to protect workers’ rights, their constitutional rights, in any workplace they’re in to make sure they are not disenfranchised.”

Mrs Isaacs-Dotson said the unions were simply asking that sufficient time be given to bargaining agents when employers planned to make workers redundant, and to be informed about the process and how their members would be impacted.

“We’ve had too many instances in the past where companies close and workers are still waiting to be paid what is due today,” she added.

“Then the company re-opens under a new name, and they get a Business Licence. These are some of the past experiences, and we’re trying to learn from them and make the system better, so it doesn’t disenfranchise workers and employers.”

Mr Goudie expressed similar sentiments, adding: “We had a lot of discussion, and are still finalising some of our positions.

“Obviously they want to push it along, but we’re negotiating. That’s all I can tell you. We’ll get there, but nothing is finalised. We’re not any further along really.”

Tribune Business previously revealed the extent of the trade union movement’s demands, which went much further than what was been revealed publicly, and threaten to price the economy - and businesses - out of the market.

When it comes to redundancy pay, the Employment Act currently mandates that employees receive two weeks’ notice or pay in lieu of notice, plus two weeks pay’ for every year worked up to 24 weeks. This effectively ‘caps’ redundancy pay for line staff at a six-month maximum.

However, the joint recommendations submitted by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and National Congress of Trade Unions (NCTU) propose a massive lifting of this ceiling - to the point where long-serving line staff will receive compensation equal to that of managerial employees.

The unions are seeking a sliding scale, where workers made redundant after six months to five years on the job would receive two weeks’ pay per year worked.

For those who have worked for their employer for between five-10 years, the labour movement wants redundancy payments to increase to two-and-a-half weeks per year, with staff who have served for between 10 to 15 years gaining three weeks’ pay per year.

Finally, for long-serving employees who have worked for 20 years or more, the unions want redundancy pay to be four weeks’ per year.

This, if the Government were minded to enact it, would result in long-serving line staff receiving redundancy pay equivalent to the compensation received by managerial workers, which the unions want to keep at a month’s salary per year worked.

The trade unions are also seeking a 20-fold increase in fines paid by businesses who run afoul of the Industrial Relations Act, with penalties rising from $5,000 to $100,000. They are also recommending that prison terms be increased from one to three years.