Still under a gag order, parties involved were on Sunday quiet on the new round of tensions but one source said that the union is outraged over a plan by management to cut the pay of members who participated in a three-day walkout last month.
The union executives, instead, want the days to be deducted from vacation days. They say another option would be to “slightly” shave the benefits to be incorporated in the new contract to make up for the days they stayed off the job.
Late last week, Labour Minister Vincent Peet told the Journal that although the agreement remained unsigned, there was no cause for concern.
He added at the time that he was satisfied that the parties were making steady progress toward concluding that agreement.
“The money issues, for the main, have been agreed [on] and have been signed off on, so there are just one or two minor areas in terms of additional benefits, which are being discussed,” he said.
“For the most part, the vast majority of the contract has been agreed and the question now is just looking at the final draft and agreeing upon the final wording.”
Looking forward to the conclusion of the contract negotiations, Minister Peet said he expects that productivity and workplace interactions will improve once an agreement is arrived at.
“I have allowed the parties to meet by themselves with a view to ensuring that they improve the relationship and the chemistry so that the parties can then, once they sign (the contract), implement and move on in good faith to help improve BEC’s bottom line and the relationship between management and the union.”
But Minister Peet and other mediators had expected that this contract would have been signed weeks ago.
Meanwhile, the special labour conclave, appointed to address the recent spate of industrial unrest, is preparing to hold its first working session “in a couple weeks”, with the steering committee set to meet today to finalise an agenda.
The group was originally scheduled to meet by the end of February, after Minister Peet announced that he would commission a group of trade unionists, labour and employer representatives to chart the way forward in establishing an industrial relations protocol for The Bahamas.
“There are certain protocols which exist in Barbados and Jamaica in which there has been a sort of social contract with the parties, which would lay out how they deal with disputes,” noted Mr. Peet, hinting at a desire to have such a system in place in The Bahamas.
The Labour Minister pointed out that a protocol governing local industrial relations is expected to help reduce the number of work stoppages and other unpleasant circumstances that frequently accompany strained relations between workers and employers.
Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
