Minimum Wages Bill & Health And Safety At Work Bill

On Friday, 14th September, the Department of Labour delivered to the office of Bahamas Employers Confederation the latest drafts dated 11th September 2001 of the Minimum Wages Bill & the Health And Safety At Work Bill. Also on Friday late afternoon, Government requested that the draft bills be reviewed by employers and comments be submitted to Government on Monday, 17th September, as the intention of Government is to introduce the Bills into the House on Wednesday, 19th September.

Most of the Coalition technical committee members were contacted late Friday afternoon and into the night, and were dismayed at Government's expectation that a considered response to the latest drafts of the Bill could be made by Monday. The Chairman of the Coalition technical committee undertook to contact Government to request a delay of at least a few weeks before proceeding with these Bills in the House, not only to allow time for the committee to deliberate on the Bills, but also for Government to give consideration to the impact that will be felt in The Bahamas as a result of the terrorist attacks in the U.S.A. Up until Sunday evening, attempts to reach Government representatives have been unsuccessful.

A few copies of the Bills were made on Friday afternoon before BECon's copying machine broke down, so the remaining copies had to be outsourced and were not available for pickup by the technical committee members until Saturday morning. Due to the short notice, late pickup of copies of the Bills, prior commitments, etc., the Coalition technical committee was unable to meet over the weekend.

Since the technical committee has not been able to meet, we are not able to report on any preliminary consensus of the Coalition. However, a few committee members who have read through the Bills have noted that many of the concerns expressed by the committee last year have not been addressed in the latest drafts.

All members of BECon and concerned employers are strongly urged to call their Members of Parliament and the Minister of Labour to request that employers be granted additional time to properly review and comment on these Bills.

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