LABOUR AND PUBLIC SERVICE MINISTER PIA GLOVER-ROLLE.
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune News Editor
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
LABOUR and Public Services Minister Pia Glover-Rolle said reappointing retirees to critical government positions speaks to “putting persons in positions of management and supervision to supervise others without the proper skills and training to do so”.
Her comment during an interview on ZNS last night comes about two weeks after the president of the Bahamas Customs and Immigration Allied Workers Union (BCIAWU) said the morale of immigration and customs officers, especially those in Grand Bahama, had been affected by the government appointing retirees to top management positions.
Mrs Glover-Rolle said the ministry’s job is to fix the “training” issue.
“Yes, we have had to bring back persons with institutional knowledge, but we have attached to them persons at lower levels who will be able to assimilate that information so that we can stop that habit,” she added. “Everybody does not want to come out of retirement but in some instances they have had to because of that gap that has existed. We have to close that gap. We’re doing it through the promotions. We’re doing it through the upskilling. We’re doing it through the retooling.”
She added that a leadership training programme had been launched at the National Training Agency to help.
Complaints about reappointing retirees have persisted for years, with some suggesting a political element to the practice, as the two major parties sometimes favour different people for reappointment.
BCIAWU president Deron Brooks said earlier this month several people in the customs department who had retired were reappointed on a contract even though superintendents in the department had at least 34 years of experience.
Comments
hrysippus 23 hours, 40 minutes ago
Retired cronies reappointed; Leave existing staff most disappointed. So few civil servants can work well; That the civil service numbers swell; Twenty percent of workers employed by government, Hired only for their voting covenant. To pay for it all, more business tax, While the State Employed continue lax, Three or more to do the work of one, In this Bahamas that’s how things are done. Sad.
bahamianson 22 hours, 23 minutes ago
That is the majority of kids with a leaving certificate . You have to train the entire entry level work force. Then they complain about salaries. How about you start your own company?
Sickened 22 hours, 18 minutes ago
Bringing back the old lazy retired people who only got promoted in the first place because of the number of years 'working' for the man and their political persuasions.
This government is grotesque.
ThisIsOurs 21 hours, 41 minutes ago
Maintaining people with institutional knowledge past retirement specifically for this purpose is something I've advocated for for years.
It's not as simple as you're retired train this person. If the retiree is a bully, it wont work, if the retiree is only being given an income, it doesnt work, if theres not a plan on how the knowledge will be transferred and how the trainee will be assessed for their willingness to be trained and their assimilation of the material along the way, it will not work.
And theres more... theyll like announce what was said and be lost on the rest
Dawes 20 hours, 39 minutes ago
So a failure to educate the young so they can get the jobs. And then a failure to make sure the old have trained the next generation up to do the jobs. basically as with everything here a failure by Government (and no birdie i am not just saying this PLP Government, but all that have come).
sheeprunner12 18 hours, 19 minutes ago
This should be embarrassing for the Minister to have to say. She brags about her HR credentials.
If a person is in a government management position for 10-20 years and there is NO succession planning policy is in place, then that is a failure on the part of the Executive team of that Ministry/Department/Agency.
That is where the problem lies. The Minister should know that.
Bringing back 65+ year old retirees to train the same workers who they refused or neglected to mentor when they were in office is the main problem that has to be fixed.
moncurcool 16 hours, 4 minutes ago
Absolutely.
What they are doing is only perpetrating the problem.
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