The contract provides for an across-the-board increase in salaries for hotel workers, retroactive to Jan. 7, 2003 and is valid to Jan. 7, 2008.
Representatives of the 11 New Providence hotels affected by the agreement were in attendance, including Minister of Labour, Vincent Peet, president of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union, Pat Bain, and Bahamas Hotel Employers Association president J Barrie Farrington.
The contract was described as being particularly noteworthy in that it was signed at the Workers House headquarters of the BHCAWU instead of, traditionally, at the Ministry of Labour.
Protocol
In order to pave the way for future, less turbulent and contentious negotiations, Labour Minister Peet invited the BHCAWU and BHEA leaders to begin as early as this week to meet with him to establish a system of protocols.
He announced that: “We have to now find the formula to move forward. This has to be a learning experience. This has to be a watershed; this has to be the type of exercise that we must commit ourselves today, not to repeat in this form. Because we can put in place a formula or a system which will allow us to move forward in a way that will be easier and in way that would be less contentious.”
He said the protocol established should stipulate where employers, the union and the government should meet regularly and put in place a formula to deal with contentious matters that affect all parties.
Calling for an end to the bitterness that transpired during the recent negotiations, Mr Peet commended leaders of both sides for committing to move forward in good faith.
He said with the establishment of the new protocols, negotiations in the future would be expected to be carried out with “less pain, less hurt and less disruptions because it is important that we all remember that we all have one country, one Bahamas for all of us; and no matter how noble that goal is, if something is done that is misunderstood and that can be seen to damage our country, then that hurts all of us.”
Intervention helped
BHEA president Mr Farrington commended Prime Minister Christie and Mr Peet for their act of intervention in bringing the protracted negotiations to a successful conclusion.
He said although the negotiations were at times acrimonious, the collective efforts of both parties have brought them to this stage.
There was always a need for give-and-take in negotiating situations, he said, with parties sometimes having to make compromises and sacrifices that would hopefully result in a “win-win” outcome.
Mr. Farrington said the end result offers employees a fair and reasonable financial package, which takes into consideration current industry conditions, such as declining profitability, increased competition, and a slow-moving economy.
He encouraged workers to increase their productivity as their livelihood was dependent on how successful the tourism industry in The Bahamas becomes.
Law change warning
Mr Bain said Prime Minister Christie must make good on his commitment to meet with all the social partners of labour in The Bahamas to renew a spirit of mutual respect, cooperation and partnership in light of the 16 months of turbulent negotiations.
He said the episode illustrated how far apart trade unions and employers were with respect to what was considered in the best interest of workers.
Need for ‘home’ work
“We note the frequency of our government leaders flying off to other parts of the region in an attempt to quell issues and problems of a troubled people, to give advice and even provide leadership.
“And that is all well and good,” he said, “but just a note of reminder: There is a need for urgent attention to the growing level of industrial disharmony right here at home that must be addressed by the social partners led by the government.”
Mr Bain said while the union agreed with the idea of social partnerships, the union became agitated at the thought of government leaders speaking down to trade unions in a “dictatorial fashion” and threatening to change the laws of the country with respect to union activities.
“We wish to state clearly for the record that the recent position taken by the government regarding changes to the labour laws will be met with strong and endless resistance. Whoever is entertaining such a thought is moving in the wrong direction,” Mr. Bain said.
“This idea to change labour laws we believe came about as a result of recent industrial action, but this is the wrong concept. We believe that all laws should be progressive and not regressive, nor should laws be changed as a reaction to unions exercising their legal right. Further, labour laws should not be made without consultation with all social partners,” he said.
Vanessa Rolle, The Nassau Guardian,/B>
