The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The National Tripartite Council’s “number one priority” is to have draft productivity legislation and standards ready for tabling in Parliament by June, its chairman said yesterday.

Robert Farquharson told Tribune Business that creating a National Productivity Council to oversee a rise in workplace output was uppermost in the body’s three-year labour reform plan that has just been approved by the government.

He added that increased worker productivity was vital if The Bahamas is “to compete more effectively” in a world economy that is becoming ever-more technology driven, with national boundaries increasingly falling away as an obstacle to commerce.

Outlining the goals of the National Tripartite Council, which was created as a forum to address all labour-related matters in The Bahamas through participation by government, private sector and unions, Mr Farquharson said it aimed to bring a two-year effort to craft appropriate productivity legislation to an end by summer 2019.

“First and foremost we want to introduce national productivity legislation before Parliament by June this year; have it ready for tabling by then,” he told this newspaper. “We want to establish a National Productivity Council.

“The idea is to increase productivity at a national level. We feel that for The Bahamas to compete more effectively in the world we have to increase productivity at a national level. It’s already the number one priority of the National Tripartite Council now. We need to increase productivity and find a mechanism to introduce productivity standards in the workplace.”

The Bahamian private sector has long voiced concerns over what it sees as relatively low overall productivity by the workforce, and has been especially vexed at the quality - or lack thereof - of potential employees coming out of the public high school system.

Frequently voiced complaints are that many employee candidates lack basic literacy and numeracy skills, and even rudimentary socialisation that will enable them to get along with both colleagues and customers to deliver the required level of service.

Increased worker productivity, so the theory of “supply-side economics goes”, will increase output and help lower a firm’s unit costs of production, thereby making Bahamian companies more price competitive on the goods and services they sell.

Under the proposed legislation, the National Productivity Council will oversee this effort at a national level, acting as the co-ordinating body for the implementation and achievement of standards viewed as critical to the Bahamian economy’s future competitiveness.

Mr Farquharson said the draft legislation, including both the Productivity Council and standards, had been based on “a combination” of what exists in Jamaica and Barbados. The National Tripartite Council now plans to visit Grand Bahama, Abaco, Exuma, Eleuthera, Andros and San Salvador over the February to March period for public consultations on the plan.

Similar consultations will be held with the likes of the Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) and Bahamas Bar Association, in a bid to “clean up” the legislation and ensure it is fit for the Government to take to Parliament by early June 2019.

Mr Farquharson said the National Productivity Council legislation’s roots could be traced back to 2016, when regional labour ministers agreed that worker output in all Caribbean countries was falling and reforms were needed to address this.

“It was back then that the Government, with the social partners, made a conscious decision to increase productivity at the national level,” he added. “We have been working with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), we’ve consulted with local, regional and international partners to draft the legislation.

“It is the number one objective of the National Tripartite Council’s three-year strategic plan. We look forward to working with the private sector and social partners to make the National Productivity Council a reality. All are on board with it.”

The National Tripartite Council’s “white paper” outlining the rationale for Bahamian productivity legislation argues that it will ultimately boost worker incomes and living standards, while generating private sector and economic growth that leads to a more sustainable economy.

“The implementation of a productivity legislation in The Bahamas is likely to lead to highly-skilled employees who are competitive both at the regional and the global level,” the “white paper” says. “Therefore, the employees will be able to ask for higher salaries given their experience and professional mastery.

“The higher salaries will increase the disposable income available to the employees, improving their access to better medical care and enabling them to contribute towards their retirement. Additionally, the employees can choose to invest their excess income in revenue-generating projects, hence further boosting their standards of living.

“The consumers’ standards of living are likely to improve due to better employee productivity, since companies will be able to operate more efficiently, passing the benefits of lower costs of production to the consumers.”

Acknowledging that low labour productivity was “one of the major concerns of businesses in The Bahamas”, the “white paper” added: “Implementing the productivity legislation will lead to high levels of productivity in the country to the benefit of the private sector. Private companies will be able to produce more efficiently, hence lower the costs of production, and report higher profit margins.

“This is possible when you consider that a highly-skilled workforce is related to a low employee turnover in firms. The increased profit margins can be ploughed back into the business, thus contributing significantly to a thriving private sector......

“Furthermore, skilled employees are also likely to improve corporate governance, thereby leading to an accountable and transparent corporate leadership which instills trust in the private sector.”