Executives of The Bahamas Public Mangers Union have said they will not support the government’s efforts to privatize Bahamasair unless a recognition agreement is signed between the union and the airline’s management team.
In response, Bahamasair Managing Director Paul Major has assured that the airline is reviewing a contract proposal from the union and will reach conclusion on an agreement “in due course.”
At a recent press conference held at The Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union building, PMU President Elton Gibson told reporters that the union wants job security for middle managers.
According to Mr. Gibson, the union has already been given a determination to become the bargaining agent for Bahamasair’s 96 middle managers from New Providence, Grand Bahama and the United States.
“We have called this press conference to inform the public that on October 15, 2004, the Public’s Managers Union was given a determination by the Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Peet in accordance with the Industrial Relations Act 1970, to become the bargaining agent for all middle managers at Bahamasair,” Mr. Gibson said while handing out the supporting documents to confirm his claims.
He said that Bahamasair’s management board was presented with a recognition agreement document in February for its input and signing. But he said to date, management has refused to discuss or execute the document.
“We view this action by Bahamasair as a further attempt to resist and or disregard the determination made by the minister. The union has demonstrated that it is willing to work in harmony with the national flag carrier, however, the union will not sit idle and not be respected,” Mr. Gibson said.
He added that the union presented the management board with a proposal for its members in April 2005, but the union has also not received any response from the management board.
Mr. Gibson also claimed that no counter proposal was made.
“The board and executives at Bahamasair are moving steadily ahead with their plans for privatization. The union wishes to advise that it does not intend to support any privatization at Bahamasair until there is a contract in place for its members at the national flag carrier,” Mr. Gibson said.
“We want the same considerations that are given to other employees at Bahamasair. Management employees have suffered long enough and have been very patient, but that patience has run out.”
Secretary of the PMU Gregory Collie insisted that the agreement would assist in ensuring that managers receive pay that they should be receiving.
“We have junior staff that is making more money that the managers. There are a lot of abnormalities that have to be corrected and so these issues need to be dealt with before we can look at privatization,” Mr. Collie said.
Without the agreement being signed, Mr. Collie explained that if a dispute were to happen between managers and the executive board, it could result in industrial chaos with no proper procedures to resolve the dispute.
“If Bahamasair has to take an action against an employee what procedure is there to deal with it? We have none,” he said. “And so it leaves the whole process open to abuse, misinterpretations and eventual industrial chaos. And so it is wise that the management board at Bahamasair executes this agreement so that we can have something in place until we are able to sit down and begin the process for a full industrial agreement.”
The actual recognition agreement sets out the conditions of employment and operation between management and union and staff and also sets out a dispute resolution procedure, according to the PMU executives.
Phyllis Johnson, a Bahamasair manager who serves as the union’s 2nd vice president, stressed during the press conference the importance of the agreement to the airline’s managers.
“We need this to go forward because we are being poised for privatization and there needs to be some agreement in place to govern how managers will be treated in the whole process. Everyone else has an agreement in place on how they would move forward, but the managers are unprotected,” she said.
Ms. Johnson said that with the agreement, the managers, who have not received any pay raises in four years, would be able to push for those increases.
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
