The Tribune

By  FAY SIMMONS and NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Reporters

THE UNION representing Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) middle managers yesterday challenged why management did not intervene sooner over more than $600,000 in overtime reportedly paid to three employees.

The Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union (BEUMU), responding to The Tribune’s report on overtime payments at BPL, argued that spending of that magnitude should have been identified easily through BPL’s existing monthly reporting and oversight systems.

It said it was not in a position to confirm or deny the figures, but maintained that employees should not be publicly blamed for overtime that was authorised, approved and paid through established management processes.

“If accurate, such expenditure should have been identified through the organisation’s existing monthly reporting and oversight mechanisms, investigated promptly, and addressed through appropriate management intervention,” the union said in a statement.

“It should not take the conclusion of an entire year and subsequent public reporting for concerns of this magnitude to receive attention.” The BPL middle managers union said overtime is subject to established authorisation and approval procedures, including approval at the executive management level, and employees do not simply determine or approve their own overtime compensation.

BEUMU said overtime information is reported to executive management regularly and is also subject to oversight at the Board level. It argued that where overtime expenditure becomes excessive or unsustainable, responsibility for investigating the underlying causes and implementing corrective measures rests with those responsible for managing and governing the utility.

The union said BPL’s 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operations mean overtime will inevitably be required at times, particularly during emergencies, system failures, restoration efforts, maintenance activities and periods of staff shortages. However, it said prolonged reliance on excessive overtime should prompt management to examine staffing levels, workloads and manpower requirements.

BEUMU said management should consider additional employees, improved scheduling, succession planning and cross-training where departments have been under-staffed and workers have consistently accumulated excessive overtime over months or years.

“Employees should not be repeatedly required to work excessive hours to maintain operations and then be publicly criticised for receiving the compensation associated with those hours,” the union said.

Meanwhile, Desmond Bannister, former deputy prime minister who had responsibility for BPL under the Minnis administration, yesterday said he was unable to “recall any major concern” with the utility’s overtime costs when he was in office.

“It could not be a surprise,” he added of BPL overtime, “that anyone got overtime at any particular level and, if it was too high, they would know about it and stop it - not like this where they seem to have let it go.”

Asserting that he was not surprised at the latest revelations, where three employees in one BPL department received more than $600,000 in combined overtime pay for the year to April 2026, Mr Bannister defended the payments by suggesting these may have been skilled workers required to work especially lengthy hours in an emergency.

“What people have to consider is these three were probably being called on because they have a certain level of expertise, and because BPL is in such a mess they probably had to work 20 hours a day,” he added. “It’s not the fault of the workers; it’s poor supervision, poor management.” The frequency and duration of BPL outages across most islands will also have played a role in driving up the overtime bill.

The BEUM, though, also expressed concern over the publication of information relating to individual employees’ salaries, overtime, vacation pay and other compensation.

The union said such disclosures raise concerns about privacy, confidentiality and the protection of employees’ personal information, while warning that publicising compensation figures could also create safety risks for workers and their families.

The BEUMU said portraying employees as receiving extraordinarily large sums of money could create false expectations among members of the public, including criminal elements, potentially exposing workers to robberies, break-ins, hold-ups and other targeting.

The union said BPL employees had experienced the consequences of damaging public narratives in the past, including what it described as incidents of assaults and robberies becoming a serious concern.

The BEUMU said it supports proper validation, monitoring and management of overtime, but rejected what it described as the public vilification of employees who perform authorised work and are subsequently compensated for those hours.

“Accountability is necessary. Oversight is necessary. Responsible management of overtime is necessary,” the union said. “But accountability must apply at every level of the organisation.”

The union said it remains committed to accountability, transparency and operational efficiency, while advocating for the dignity, privacy, safety and fair treatment of BPL employees.