Central Bank employees protest after industrial agreement impasse

About a dozen Central Bank of The Bahamas employees held a protest yesterday in response to what they consider unfair changes to their employment benefits, among other issues.

President of the Union of Central Bankers Theressa Thompson said the bargaining agency has reached an impasse with the management of the Central Bank after negotiating a new industrial agreement which expired in January.

She said the union, which represents approximately 150 Central Bank employees, filed a trade dispute yesterday and is awaiting a response from the Central Bank before taking any further steps.

“We filed the trade dispute and so far we haven’t heard anything from the bank. If we have to amp up the antics then we will. This is just the beginning of where we need to be,” she said.

The employees, who have been working remotely at home since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, gathered in the Central Bank parking lot yesterday.

The union is claiming that the bank decided to end a wellness benefit and moved to a new performance management system.

“The bank is unilaterally changing the terms of our industrial agreement,” Thompson claimed.

“You’re working from home, the expenses shift from the building to us. Your light bill, phone, cable, everything goes up. We’ve been home 15 months and we’ve asked them for a COVID relief figure.”

When contacted for comment yesterday, a Central Bank spokesperson said the bank would issue any and all statements to its website if it chose to. Nothing had been posted up to press.

“As the longest standing president of a union, I always have always had a good dialogue with the government, I always do and whatever the problem is we can resolve it, but I can’t continue to be doing this because it’s not good for my health,” Thompson continued.

“They’re saying they don’t have any money but these people are building two new buildings, one for $80 million and one for $120 million. What is more important? What is your focus, is it more on building or on your labor capital? And that’s the message we are trying to bring across.

“I see the comments that oh, y’all should just thank God for the job. You have to understand, it’s more than just a job. It is not fair to me that you are asking me to do more but you don’t compensate me. It’s difficult to demonstrate because people will say y’all should just be thankful for the job. Yeah, but I’m not Boo Boo the fool though.”

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/central-bank-employees-protest-after-industrial-agreement-impasse/