The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The FNM’s deputy leader yesterday warned that the Government’s latest labour law reforms threaten to upset the delicate balance between protecting Bahamian workers and the need for jobs and economic growth.

K P Turnquest told Tribune Business that the proposed changes to the Employment and Industrial Relations Acts would further increase costs and bureaucracy for Bahamas-based businesses at the worst time in the economic cycle.

With annual GDP growth still below 1 per cent, Baha Mar notwithstanding, and unemployment still in the ‘double digits’ at 11.6 per cent, the east Grand Bahama MP warned that the Christie administration was making this nation “uncompetitive”.

Mr Turnquest said: “The reality is that whatever amendments are made to the labour legislation, they have to be balanced. Right now, in my estimation, we’re beginning to make ourselves uncompetitive.

“We have to be mindful of where we are in the economic cycle, and the competitive conditions around us. We can’t continue to increase the cost of doing business and not expect negative implications.”

Mr Turnquest is likely to be more aware than most MPs of the consequences that implementing the two Bills will bring, both for individual businesses and the wider economy, given his previous position as Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce president.

A business owner and investor himself, the east Grand Bahama MP used guarded language to criticise the Government’s actions, no doubt mindful of the upcoming general election.

Mr Turnquest added: “At the end of the day, while there may be need for some further employee protections, we have to make sure they’re balanced against the cost of doing business and the need to grow and expand the country’s economy.”

Chief among employer concerns is the 67 per cent, or two-thirds increase, in the Employment Act’s redundancy pay ‘cap’.

Line staff are currently entitled to a maximum 24 weeks or six months’ redundancy pay under the Employment Act, gaining two weeks for each year they have been employed up to the 12-year ‘cap’.

However, the Bill requires the ‘cap’ to be increased to 32 weeks (16 years) immediately upon enactment of the reforms. And, ultimately, the ‘cap’ for line staff redundancy pay is to be increased to 40 weeks some two years after the amendments are passed.

As for managerial staff, the existing 48 weeks (12 months/one year) redundancy pay maximum that they are due currently under the Employment Act is to be immediately increased to 64 weeks. Should the proposals pass, the ‘cap’ will ultimately be lifted to 80 weeks after two years.

Michael Reckley, the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association’s (BHREA) vice-president, told Tribune Business yesterday that the two-thirds increase in redundancy pay for terminated employees was effectively “a form of social taxation”.

He joined Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, in lamenting the fact that several clauses in the Bills had never been shown to the private sector for consultation before their tabling in the House of Assembly.

“We’re very, very disappointed and disturbed by what we see,” said Mr Reckley, whose Association represents the Bahamas’ largest hotel employers, such as Atlantis, “particularly because some of this stuff was never brought to us for consideration.”

“This stuff had never been seen before; some of that found its genesis in the Attorney General’s Office. The employers have not given their consent to some of this.”

Mr Reckley also reiterated Mr Sumner’s concerns that because the changes to the Bills were not approved by the private sector, there was no unanimous consent - as required by the National Tripartite Council’s Act - for them to move forward to Parliament. As a result, the Chamber chief executive had argued that the recommended changes were “ultra vires” or not in accordance with the law.

“We are being asked to put into law something that doesn’t make sense in this economy. I wish there was a nicer way of saying it,” Mr Reckley added.

“It’s becoming a political football. It’s being used to the detriment of employers. Which employer is going to create employment in this context?

“It’s bad news. This government has paid lip service to employers. We need someone to say what incentives will be given to the business community to create employment. I don’t know if they have the growth and development of this economy at the forefront of their minds.”

The proposed reforms also impose bureaucratic notification requirements on Bahamian businesses, whenever they are considering redundancies, and a fine equivalent to 30 days’ extra pay for each terminated employee should these not be adhered to.

Employers will have to give relevant trade unions, or employee representatives, a “written statement” explaining the reasons for the redundancies and “facts” behind the move, along with the number and category of jobs impacted, and the timeframe over which the terminations will take place.

“Recognised” trade unions must be consulted “no later than six weeks” before the redundancies will occur in a bid to “mitigate” the impact, and determine the processes and procedures that will be used. The Minister of Labour must be given 30 days’ notice.

Meanwhile, the proposed reforms to section 51 of the Industrial Relations Act deem the terms and conditions of industrial agreements as automatically incorporated into individual workers’ contracts.

Other proposed amendments force employers to start collective bargaining talks within 45 days of receiving a trade union’s industrial agreement proposal.