BPSU: Meeting with govt not fruitful at all

Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) President Kimsley Ferguson said yesterday that the union is at an impasse with the government after a meeting on Tuesday between union leaders and several Cabinet ministers proved to be “not fruitful at all”.

Ferguson suggested that the government used the meeting as a political tactic, instead of as a means to settle longstanding issues the BPSU has raised concern over, including outstanding increments, base increases, and lump-sum payments to workers.

“We are of the view that the government of The Bahamas did not invite the union to the meeting in good faith,” Ferguson said.

“It appeared to me as if they were looking for some sympathy.”

He added, “I don’t think it was genuine at all. I think it was more political, more along the lines of the government seeking the support of the union based on positions that they would have taken that would not have been in their best interest going into a general election.”

Ferguson said multiple attempts to reach out to Minister of the Public Service Brensil Rolle since Hurricane Dorian two years ago did not result in any meeting up until that which took place on Tuesday.

In August 2019, the Ministry of the Public Service and National Insurance announced that while the BPSU and the government had reached a preliminary agreement over the payment of a lump sum to workers, there were still some outstanding financial issues to be settled.

Under the agreement, the government would pay members of the BPSU an initial lump sum of $800 in the first quarter of the fiscal year and $600 before the end of December.

The union’s last agreement expired in 2017. Ferguson said the union had proposed a $250 base salary increase per month in the first year, a lump sum payment of $2,500 in the second year, and another $200 pay raise per month for its members in the third year.

Ferguson said that while lump-sum payments were received in 2019, little progress has been made since then. 

And Tuesday’s meeting, he said, brought the two parties no closer to any resolution.

Ferguson said that while he was told that a lump sum payment equal to one year’s increment will be paid to workers, there will be no increment added to base salaries.

“Increments are an entitlement,” he said.

“And while the government may be paying retroactively, I think they could have come up with a better explanation as to why the increment is not being added to the base of individuals’ salaries.

“If you’re not going to give the public servants an increase, at least give them what they are entitled to, which is their increment.”

He added, “The long and short is we did not receive a favorable response from the government.”

Ferguson said he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis on Wednesday about the matter, and requested that a response be received by the end of the day on Monday. 

“That letter was delivered asking the prime minister to indicate in a written communication what the government is indeed proposing because based on our conversation, I was of the view that the government is proposing nothing,” Ferguson.

“It sort of adds up, based on looking at the budget where there was no indication of monies for salary increases, which tells me that it was clear that the government’s intent to give salary increases was zilch, zero.

“… You cannot want to have a relationship with us as late in the game as now as opposed to having a relationship with us even when the issues were minute when we could have had a discussion.

“And having now reached this point, the union could have been understanding.

“And so, the union is not trying to understand the government’s position at all at this juncture.”

Calls placed to Rolle yesterday were not returned up to press time.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/bpsu-meeting-with-govt-not-fruitful-at-all/