The criticism comes particularly as it related to the financial services industry, arguing that this was highly counter-productive and could be viewed as the pursuit of naked self-interest if attorneys refused to contemplate any compromise.
Julian Francis said the best that could be said for the Bar Association’s control on who could practice as an attorney was that it failed to appreciate the extent to which legal services had become synonymous with the financial services industry.
“Some feel that, like some of our labour union leaders, legal practitioners who refuse to contemplate any compromise in this regard are simply pursuing naked self-interest,” Mr Francis told the Bahamas Business Outlook conference.
He suggested that if policymakers refused to take on the Bar Association over the issue of opening up legal services to foreign practitioners, the matter should be put to the Bahamian people to decide. The matter was simply too important to the future of a potentially more vibrant and dynamic financial services industry to leave the situation as it currently stood, Mr Francis said.
The Central Bank governor added that one of the main challenges to the orderly development of the Bahamian economy were the unreasonable expectations that workers had been made to understand they should have, as opposed to what the economy can and should, given competitive realities, afford to labour.
Although not directly referring to the various current trade union disputes, Mr Francis said the time had come for two things to happen. There had to be careful reflection on the operation of trade unions to ensue they do not continue to capriciously hold the economy at ransom, while the a meaningful forum for dialogue between labour, employers and the Government, as an employer, had to be created.
These two initiatives, Mr Francis said, would help to give workers a better appreciation of their appropriate place in the economy, and provide a long-term stable framework within which orderly negotiations and determinations of labour contracts could be pursued.
Union and their role in the Bahamas’ future came under further fire, when Mr Francis suggested their leaders wielded too much power and put individual interests before country, economy, industry and even membership.
“I would argue that the influence of labour leaders, as distinct from the union membership, is currently far in excess of what it should be given what they represent in the entire process.
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One can wonder whether they have not been allowed to direct the administration of labour far too much in their individual interest,” the Central Bank governor said.
On the matter of immigration, he added that there was a view that a separation was needed between protection of the Bahamas’ borders and issues relating to the development of those business sectors that the Bahamas must favour if the economy is to compete globally.
The tourism and financial services industries had probably not been significantly disadvantaged by an influx of foreign workers, especially during the last 10 to 15 years, Mr Francis said, adding that there was still room for considerable reform in this area to provide the necessary level of flexibility and efficiency these sectors should enjoy.
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He said The Bahamas needed to overcome an underlying unwillingness to accept the meaningful and equal participation in the economy by foreign nationals, a mindset that would change more quickly when more Bahamians sought to invest and pursue business beyond the country’s borders.
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Mr Francis warned, though, that “if we have to wait for this type of ‘organic’ acceptance to occur before we can reform the way our economy works, we risk missing-out on the positioning phase of this new global economic order. We should consider most carefully if we are to take such a risk”.
Mr Francis said it was unlikely that the Bahamas was ready to implement much of the reforms he suggested. He added that there was a pervasive Bahamian desire to resist change and to assume the Bahamas can continue to enjoy the fruits of the country’s traditional good fortune without any particular effort on the part of individuals.
That, though, was a badly mistaken view that did not seem to recognise that Bahamians demanded an ever increasing improved standard and quality of life.
Mr Francis said that unless Bahamians were willing to embrace these types of reforms in the way this nation pursues development, the improvements that have been known for three and half decades will become increasingly difficult to realise, and added that a development vision for the Bahamas over the next decade must be based on the principle of openness.
Yolanda Deleveaux, The Tribune
