Last week, the union called a massive sickout at NIB offices through out the country.
But union President Winston Moss said Friday that the employees involved in the sickout would return to work today.
“We plan to go back to work on Monday because we need to go and since they didn’t call us, we are going to go back there with an opportunity for them to speak to us and if they don’t speak to us then we will have to sit down and talk to our members to see what will be the next step from there,” Mr. Moss said.
Union executives claim that NIB management refuse to sign an outstanding agreement to address salary concerns, a charge that officials at NIB have denied.
At a press conference Friday, Director of NIB Lennox McCartney called the union’s actions unnecessary, irresponsible, and illegal.
Mr. McCartney said that the Board has had no direct communication with the PMU on the industrial dispute.
“The National Insurance Board is currently not in negotiations with the PMU,” he said. “The Board’s five-year contract with the union does not expire until April 2005.”
He said that the agreement to conduct a salary review, which was signed in 2001, was completed in July of this year on time and in accordance with that agreement.
“It is important to note that the Board is not under any contractual or legal obligation to negotiate salary increases with the union,” Mr. McCartney said. “We are currently not negotiating salary adjustments with the union.”
He said the Board is not in the position to meet with the union as yet on the salary review matter because it has not finished all of the reviews and analyses necessary before adjustments can be made.
“The joint union and management committee only completed its review and recommendations on the 15 October 2003,” he said. “The studies have shown that NIB staff was 13 percent underpaid and not the 40 percent that the PMU is claming.”
Mr. McCartney also pointed out that the corporation is 25 percent over staffed.
“The board is committed to resolving disputes by dialogue and negotiation,” he said.
Several months ago, members of the union filed an official complaint with NIB accusing management of violating the agreement signed more than two years ago to address salary concerns.
The PMU claimed that NIB is losing many qualified professionals to private companies and other corporations due to low salaries.
By Yvette Rolle -Major, The Bahama Journal
