Bahamas Electrical Workers Union President Dennis Williams warned on Thursday that if management of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation continues not to negotiate in good faith the union would have no other choice but to take a strike vote.
But BEC’s executives have continued to insist that they are negotiating in good faith as the union presses ahead with several key demands that would result in greater benefits for its members.
“If BEC after the union has bent over backwards offering all of these concessions, trying to work with them-continues to slap the union in its face and not try to sit down at the table and negotiate these things in a sensible manner then the union would have no other choice [but] to take a strike vote,” Mr. Williams said.
But he gave no timeline for when a strike vote could be taken.
The dispute with BEC has intensified in recent weeks with the union’s members remaining on work to rule, meaning that they are operating on a level of reduced enthusiasm and are refusing to work overtime.
The whole situation has some members of the public voicing disgust and a lack of sympathy for the union as it makes its latest round of demands. These demands come just over a year after the union and management signed an industrial agreement, while vowing to take a new approach to industrial relations, one that would be less confrontational.
Mr. Williams said on Thursday that despite what some people may be saying, the union is confident that most working class Bahamians are sympathetic to its cause.
“The working class citizens of this country support trade unionism and I know that the working class citizens of this country who are the vast majority support our cause,” he said.
His union wants management to negotiate the terms of the merit pay system agreed to in the industrial agreement. It would award workers based on their level of productivity.
“There was a lot of talk by management about merit pay and management did not live up to that end of the contract and didn’t even have one meeting with the union over the last year so they actually voided that clause; they actually voided the whole contract and the union has to get proper remuneration,” Mr. Williams said.
He again claimed that BEC’s management is refusing to follow the law is it relates to the 40-hour workweek.
“BEC is the last employer in this country to normalize the working hours of its employees,” Mr. Williams said.
In addition, the union is asking for a review of the pension plan, which would result in greater benefits for employees upon retirement.
Even though workers do not financially contribute to the pension plan, Mr. Williams said that everything the union is asking for is reasonable.
But earlier in the week, BEC’s General Manager Kevin Basden said this was not the case.
“Because of these new demands on the part of the BEWU, the cost of doing business could increase,” he told reporters. “If these new demands are not properly and reasonably discussed there could be significant adverse impact on BEC and on the economy.”
His warning came as customers continued to face higher fuel surcharges, which have been on a steady rise all year.
Mr. Basden assured that there was a way to reach amicable conclusion to the present dispute.
“We want to assure all employees that if the correct procedures are followed, our differences [could] be discussed reasonably and rationally and settled expeditiously,” he said.
“We all have a job to do and an obligation to those who depend upon us as an essential service corporation to provide them with an uninterrupted supply of power, especially in the event of a natural disaster.”
From: The Bahama Journal
