Today's union leaders in The Bahamas are a different breed... they have no interest in nation building

UNIONISTS WANT RIGHT TO BE LATE FOR WORK

tribune242 editorial



UNIONS seem to follow a pattern, they rattle their sabres at tourism's busiest time of the year, or when an election is nearing. The reasoning seems to be that these are the times when the boss is most vulnerable, so they toss him to the ground and pick his pockets.

True or false, that is the perception.

For several days now, there has been discontent at the airport. A strike for the busy new year's weekend was threatened. Although a strike did not materialise there was chaos at the airport yesterday. We know that at least one businessman cancelled plans to travel to the US over the weekend because of strike talk - union leaders refused to confirm or deny whether the strike was on or off. The businessman feared that if he left the country he might not be able to return for early morning meetings on Tuesday. There were probably others in the same situation. Of course, no one knows how many weekend visitors coming into the country might also have cancelled because of the uncertainty.

As one businessman close to the tourist industry commented yesterday: "Today's union leaders are a different breed, they have no interest in nation building."

It seems unconscionable that anyone would try to destroy new business coming into a country that has suffered such a long economic downturn. But that is just what all this "work-to-rule" and "strike" at the airport did over a weekend that promised good business for the country.

It is interesting to note that the union making the most noise, is a breakaway union, which as yet has no contract with the government. Union leaders are to meet with Labour Minister Dion Foulkes next week -- Tuesday, January 10 -- to negotiate their first contract.

When a Tribune reporter tried to get information on Friday as to whether the newly-formed Bahamas Customs, Immigration and Allied Workers Union (BCIAWU) intended to go through with its strike threat, all union vice-president Sloane Smith would say was: "I offer no information today on what may possibly be going on at the airport. I will not say there is a strike or there isn't a strike. Things are unfolding the way they should. That is all I am prepared to say."

In other words, the travelling public can go you-know-where as far as unionists are concerned. They forget that these are the tourists who put bread on their tables and when the tourists are gone so is the bread.

Members of the BCIAWU were once a part of John Pinder's Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU), which does have a government contract. The BCIAWU is negotiating a contract for the first time.

They have listed several items that they want clarified and incorporated into their contract. "Employees are repeatedly being disciplined for lateness, although the contract states this should not occur more than four times per month," is one of their complaints. Obviously, they are referring to the BPSU contract, which the BCIAWU abandoned on breaking away from the BPSU. At the moment, they have no contract as a reference point.

We had to read this "lateness" demand several times, and still we cannot believe that persons interested in holding down a job are trying to negotiate slackness into their contract. It's an absolutely preposterous demand, which should be tossed out before any negotiations begin. Anyone interested in giving an honest day's work has no right to demand the right to be late for work.

Just imagine everyone in a department deciding to have a lie in on a Monday morning. There would be chaos in that department. The taxpayers of this country have the right to demand more. What man or woman in the private sector can arrive late on the job without a valid excuse, and when that so-called "valid excuse" starts to form a pattern, the man or woman is eventually written up, and if there is no improvement, he or she is fired.

That is the general problem with the public service -- there are many exceptions, of course-- but as a general rule too many are not serious. They are not serious about work and they are not serious about serving the public. However, they are very serious about their days off, their overtime, and being allowed to be late for work one day in every week of the year.

Four late days a month, translates into 48 late days a year. What private company would tolerate this? What taxpayer would expect to get away with such dumb shenanigans at his own place of business, yet he is expected to foot the bill for a public servant to have the right to do so. It's now time for the public to have a say in some of these contracts, after all they are the ones footing these bills.

We hope that the right to be late for work is removed completely from all contracts. The main trouble with the public service is that it lacks discipline. What we have found in our years in business is that what is granted as a generous consideration when built into a contract suddenly becomes a right. One can be certain that every week of each month a staff member will be late because it is now his right-- no reasons are needed for the lateness. How can a department head manage a department efficiently if he/she has to work with staff who have such "rights."

We still can't believe that union leaders would insult the public's intelligence by threatening to strike for such nonsense.

January 03, 2012

tribune242 editorial

Caribbean Blog International

This is no time for the unions to create further instability...

Not the time for union unrest
tribune242 editorial



ONE WOULD have thought that unions -- especially the hotel union in Freeport -- would have learned its lesson by now with the closure in 2004 of the Royal Oasis Golf Resort and Casino, putting more that 1,200 Bahamians out of work.

This hotel struggled under union pressure from the day the new owners bought it in 1999 to the day in 2004 when Hurricane Frances so badly damaged it that the owners decided not to reopen. It was clear that the disruptive behaviour of the unions played a major role in that decision.

A year before Hurricane Frances made the decision for everyone, Donald Archer, the hotel's senior vice president, broke his silence to complain about the poor level of service from certain staff about which guests were also complaining. He warned them that not only would a strike be illegal, but that "any responsible union would examine the current and future needs of its members, the fragile economic environment, the financial status of the company and global conditions." At the time the Iraq war was threatening.

Mr Archer warned at the time that more than 1,200 families would be affected by a strike "to say nothing of the impact on these families and the businesses that they patronise."

But what union leaders did not appreciate was how much they had hurt their membership who had a stake in the International Bazaar, which also faced closure. With the hotel closed, the Bazaar's patrons had disappeared.

Commenting on this in November 2005, we wrote: "This should teach the union a lesson that when it pushes its claims too far everything can collapse under the strain, taking even the union with it."

Seven years later the Royal Oasis Golf Resort remains closed.

And so we were surprised at the beginning of this year to hear of labour unrest at Our Lucaya resort, which everyone knew was struggling to keep its doors open in a world recession that was leaving millions jobless.

But apparently, Obie Ferguson, president of the Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association, saw a chink of light somewhere that no one else saw. In January he said that "now the economy is showing signs of recovery," he thought it "time to do what should be done."

"Workers rights," he said, "are as important as profits. We will take the necessary poll and then do what we have to do." Of course, the poll he was hinting at was a strike vote.

Hotel staff knew that the hotel was not doing well. As a matter fact there was no place on the globe that was not suffering from the world crash. However, in the Bahamas there are those among us -- including, if not especially, some politicians -- who think that the Bahamas is somehow not a part of the economically broken world, and that our people, despite our exorbitant public debt, should not have to lower their financial expectations.

As a matter of fact Prime Minister Ingraham thanked the Hutchison-Whampoa group for keeping Our Lucaya open, when others would have closed it. It was known that the hotel was subsiding the staff's payroll and could not afford more. Yet Mr Ferguson, the union man, continued his background rumblings. Last week it was announced that Our Lucaya had closed two of its three hotels. Instead of closing completely, it consolidated its operation on one property -- Breakers Cay --to save 800 jobs. However, to save the 800, 200 staff had to go.

Government is now working with the hotel to try to find employment for these 200, and to retrain some of them in other skills to qualify for other jobs.

When will Bahamians understand what is going on in the world, and appreciate the jobs they now have? This is not the time for government corporations -- some of whose staff are the best paid in the Bahamas -- to be talking of salary increases. Look at other countries and see how heavily they have reduced their public service to streamline their economies. It is acknowledged that our civil service is over stacked and could do with a heavy trim. But, government has as yet shown no inclination to do so.

Even the Cuban Workers Federation announced that half of its work force will lose their jobs by next year. The Cuban government currently employs 85 per cent of that island's workers.

These workers will have to either go back to the farms, find construction work, become self employed or join a cooperative.

Today's economic downturn is forcing Cuba closer to the free enterprise system.

"Our state can't keep maintaining... bloated payrolls," the Cuban Workers Federation told The Wall Street Journal.

This is something that local unions and many Bahamians have yet to grasp. Although we might not know it we are a part of the world and if any part of that world is injured, the whole unit will feel it. Already petroleum retailers want to raise their prices to offset the troubles driving prices up in the oil rich Middle East. The increase in oil will push up costs across the board. Businessmen have no control over these costs. Therefore, when they are forced to cut costs to keep their businesses operational -- the decision forced on the Our Lucaya owners will be forced on them. Staff become redundant.

It is no time in such a climate for the unions to create further instability -- in the end only its members will suffer.

March 08, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Weak Leadership Concerns about The Bahamas Hotel Catering & Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU)

Former Leaders of The Hotel Union are Very Concerned and Disappointed" in The Direction the Union is Headed

Hotel Union "In Reverse" - Says Former VP

By Candia Dames

Candiadames@hotmail.com

14/01/2004

The weather is rough and the hotel union needs a strong captain, according to its former Vice President Alexander Thompson.

In an interview with the Bahama Journal Tuesday, he said if former union President Thomas Bastian were still in charge, the present contract negotiations with the Hotel Employers Association would have ended long ago.

Mr. Thompson, 66, who served as vice president of the union for 12 years, said his former colleague, Mr. Bain, is a "good person", but a "weak leader."

"The president can not be hot and cold at the same time.  He has to make decisions," Mr. Thompson said, while noting that Mr. Bastian was "very concerned and disappointed" in the direction the union was headed.

He noted that under the leadership of Mr. Bain, the union did not have the skills needed to hold on to Worker's Bank, which was bought by Bank of The Bahamas.

"I think Mr. Bain likes to please everybody and that can't happen," he added.  "The employers don't seem to have a high regard for leadership of the union."

Mr. Thompson also intimated that he and Mr. Bastian were pained by what they perceived to be the slow progress made by the union under Mr. Bain's leadership.

"[Mr. Bastian] is concerned because we've put so much years into this union and that wasn't easy," Mr. Thompson said.  "He's concerned for the union and for the workers."

But not all trade unionists agree that Mr. Bain is a weak leader.

Frank Carter, former president of the Airport Airline and Allied Workers Union, believes that Mr. Bain has simply been getting a bad rap and that there is a bias against him in the media.

"It's mainly because the employers have been very successful in getting their propaganda out and unions usually lose the public relations battle.  We don't have the sort of financial resources or the friends in the media like the employers," said Mr. Carter, who is also the 1st vice president of the umbrella organization, the National Congress of Trade Unions, which Mr. Bain also heads.

He said, "I think Mr. Bain tries to listen to all points of view. He tries to be more inclusive of the views of his executive team to come to positions by consensus. His style is just different from Thomas Bastian's, whose style was different from David Knowles'."

Mr. Carter is now the principal of an industrial and labour relations consultancy firm in Palmdale. He said that it is not unusual for the union and the association to still be negotiating a new agreement after 16 months.

"I'm not surprised," Mr. Carter said. "If you look at other negotiations in The Bahamas over the years and negotiations in other jurisdictions, you would find that this is not so much out of the ordinary. I believe the high visibility and at times the public pronouncements by both sides and also the concerns of the government have brought more attention to these negotiations."

He said he once negotiated for 22 months with Bahamasair for a new contract.

"Sometimes it is very difficult," Mr. Carter pointed out.  "So I can understand [the difficulty faced by] Brother Pat Bain and his team and I can also understand [the difficulty faced by] Mr. Barrie Farrington who heads the employers' team."

Mr. Carter added that members of the union's executive team were working well together and to suggest otherwise would be incorrect.

But Mr. Thompson has doubts about that.

"They have some serious problems as I understand it," he told the Bahama Journal.

 Mr. Thompson, who has been out of active trade unionism for a few years, advised Mr. Bain to be willing to give up more, although he acknowledged that he had no inside information on the talks.

"You never get what you want," he said.

But Mr. Thompson conceded that the 12 percent salary increase the union is demanding is reasonable.

"If you look at the workers at the lower end, people in the kitchen and the garden, that's not really doing too much for them," he said.

Government officials mediating the talks expect that the matter will come to a head before the end of the week. 

Trade Unions and Industrial Disputes in The Bahamas

2003 - A Year of Serious Labour Unrest in The Bahamas

Trade Unions & Industrial Disputes – Part 1

By Apostle Cedric Moss
Nassau, The Bahamas

2003 will probably go down in history as the year with the most serious labour unrest our country has seen in modern times.  While many of the 2003 disputes have been or are being resolved, at the time of this writing (January 1, 2004), the very public contract negotiations dispute between the Bahamas Hotel Catering & Allied Workers Union (BHC) and the Bahamas Hotel Employers Association (BHEA) continue and the end does not seem to be in sight.

Today I offer the first of a two-part commentary on industrial disputes generally and the BHC and BHE dispute specifically.

Prefatory Remarks

I wish I did not have to preface my remarks at all but in an attempt to minimize being misunderstood, I offer the following preface.

First of all, I have not been privy to any aspect of the ongoing negotiations between BHC and BHEA nor am I aware of the points of differences and the reasoning behind the positions held on these points.  Therefore, I do not write in support of either side and as such hold a neutral position.

Concerning trade unions, as a matter of principle, I support them.  My support is not based on the fact that our constitution and laws permit them…I fundamentally support the philosophy of labourers acting corporately to represent their general welfare and interests as a necessary part of the production equation.

Similar to my support for organized labour, I support free enterprise and the right of investors to enjoy the rewards of their entrepreneurship as well as to form associations among themselves to represent their general welfare and interests.

The Greatest Concern

Of all the labour disputes, the dispute between BHC and BHEA is of greatest concern. There is a primary and simple reason for this: Our nation is highly dependent upon tourism as its economic lifeblood.  So we are all affected, perhaps not immediately but certainly inevitably, by how things go in the hospitality industry.  Therefore, the negotiators for both BHC and BHEA must see their stewardship beyond the immediate constituencies they represent and be conscious of the welfare of Bahamians in general as they adopt positions.

The Strike Vote

Recently, BHC members voted to strike but according to press reports, only 17% of the union members eligible to vote actually voted.  Obviously our laws allow for a simple majority of those who vote to determine whether a union will be certified to initiate strike action or not.  In this regard, I do not fault Mr. Pat Bain and his leadership team for using the results of the vote: They have a legal mandate to strike.  However, like many others, while recognizing the legal right to strike, I question whether 17% provides a moral mandate to strike.  In addition, I believe the results raise some other important questions related to the 87% of persons who, for whatever reasons, did not participate in the vote.  Is it that they are contented with their present employment conditions and voted by not voting?  Is it that they are indifferent?

The Infamous Go Slow

I share the view of many that the decision to call for a go-slow during the state visit of President Thabo Embeki was a national embarrassment and poor judgment.  This is not an attack on Mr. Pat Bain and his leadership team; it is just my considered view.  I do not know Mr. Bain other than in the press and he seems to be an intelligent, informed and responsible union leader who is genuinely concerned with the welfare of his members.

However, I believe the now infamous go slow incident raises a fundamental question: Is it fair for employees to intentionally reduce their work productivity and still expect to be paid normal wages based on the usual higher productivity?  The answer of all fair-minded people is a simple but resounding no.  As such I support relevant legislation to outlaw go slows and to make clear the right of employers to cut the pay of employees who intentionally produce less than they have been contracted for and are capable of.  After all, it is only fair.

Preview of Next Week

Join me next week when I will conclude my comments by addressing the practice of sickouts by employees and stalling strategies of employers, among other things.  Until then, best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2004!

Apostle Cedric Moss serves as Senior Pastor at Kingdom Life World Outreach Centre. Commentary and feedback may be directed to: apostle@kingdom-life.org