The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government has been warned not to “disadvantage” any civil servants in its planned reforms with their union chief voicing disappointment with the Government’s failure to fully consult.

Kimsley Ferguson, the Bahamas Public Services Union’s (BPSU) president, told Tribune Business that the Government will not arbitrarily be able to move persons without running afoul of the protocols and procedures that govern such activities within the civil service.

Responding after Pia Glover-Rolle, minister of state for the public service, unveiled a “ten-point” plan to reform the public sector while warning that its future was “hanging in the balance”, Mr Ferguson argued that the 20,000-strong civil service was “not overstaffed” and the Government cannot simply “pick up and move these people”.

“The movement of public servants is not something you can just arbitrarily do,” he warned. “It must be governed in accordance with public service regulations. You don’t unveil something like this and not consult the union.

“The only thing they can do now, in my opinion, is that there should be more consultation with the union to let us know what they intend to do. And if they fail to consult and do things inappropriately, we’ll have to respond to what they do. If they don’t follow the policies and procedures for how people move, we’ll have some concerns.

“For us, if it’s not consistent with the rules and regulations, we’ll have something to say. If they’re going to go out and move people, they must know what they’re doing. As a major stakeholder, and a key stakeholder in what is happening, we have a role to play in how things move around in the public sector. I want to see what they’re going to do.”

Mrs Glover-Rolle last week unveiled a strategy designed to transform the public service’s culture, and boost morale, by ensuring that workers are deployed into the jobs and roles most suited to their specific skill-sets.

The plan also seeks to improve management of the Government’s real estate, with between $9m-$12m worth of leases currently being reviewed at the Attorney General’s Office for potential cancellation. Mrs Glover-Rolle blamed “bad management” by the previous administration for securing leases, and making payments, on properties not being used by the Government.

“Cries for reform in the public service are becoming deafening from both our internal and external stakeholders,” she said. “We are at a critical point with the future of the service hanging in the balance, and there’s no more time for talk. Focused, deliberate, aggressive action is the only solution. But that action will take lots of work, lots of strategising, and lots of change management.

“So, the Ministry of Public Service, under this ‘New Day’ administration, as noted in our Blueprint for Change and expanded in the ‘New Day’ agenda for the public service, speaks to a reimagining of how we run the public service in every aspect and function, bringing us into a 21st century model for efficiency and productivity.”

Several “units” have been created to drive the reforms. They include the accommodations unit, tasked with making better use of the Government’s office spaces and improving working conditions; the labour relations unit, assigned the job of improving local labour relations; and the career path development and training unit.

The latter will be responsible for clearing the promotions backlog in the public service, developing career paths and better integrating existing training opportunities into the government internship and hiring processes.

Other units include the contributory pension plan unit, charged with reforming and expanding access to the public sector pension plan; the special project human resources unit, which is responsible for solving longstanding human resources matters, and the ‘New Day’ delivery unit, mandated with assisting in various human resources and communications-related areas.