BECon and Coalition Partners Respond to Minister

In response to the letter from the Ministry of Labour and Immigration dated the 29th of May requesting BECon to submit its concerns and recommendations on existing labour legislation, a letter acknowledging receipt was sent to the Minister on the 3rd of June.

This letter, (available for viewing on our web site), thanked the Minister for requesting our recommendations for Government's review of the labour laws, and informed him that BECon is inviting employer and business organizations to join us as the Coalition of Private Sector Organizations in order to provide as wide a base of employer representation as possible.

The Minister was informed that economic, legal and specific applications of the Acts are the areas of our concerns, and that due to the short time frame imposed by his requested submission date of June 17th, our submission in all likelihood would not be comprehensive.

A core group from the original Coalition met five times during the last two and one half weeks in order to produce a considered response of general and specific comments and concerns, and make specific recommendations on the current labour legislation.

The complete set of documents being presented to the Minister on Monday, 17th June, comprise a four page letter and twenty-four pages of annexes which are available for viewing in the Members Only Area of BECon's web site. As a show of good faith, BECon and its Coalition partners will not disclose to the general public any specific recommendations being made to Government nor put on the table in any tripartite forum, so long as this good faith is reciprocated by the other social partners.

The core group of the original Coalition endeavored to be as complete as possible in response to the Minister, incorporating concerns expressed by BECon and Coalition members raised since September of last year. Although we do not know what Government's "review" of this legislation will entail, it is important that we bring all of our issues and concerns to the table.

In broad terms, the documents being sent to the Minister show our resolve and commitment to the Rule of Law, pointing out that this concept can only work when laws are fair, equitable, economically sound, and can be applied to all of the people within the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Consideration should therefore be given to the entire spectrum of employment categories and remuneration systems that exist in The Bahamas.

It is not possible to look at legislation of this type from a national level without consideration of the socio-economic impact it has, and note where consideration should be given, such as to small businesses, young persons, disabled persons, the specialized needs of certain sectors such as manufacturers and producers, and the issue of national productivity in general.

Quoting the last sentence from the letter to the Minister, "It is our hope that at the end of this review process the labour laws of The Bahamas will be clear and equitable, recognize the diversity of employment and remuneration systems in our nation, promote harmonious industrial relations, and recognize the need for high levels of productivity."

Coalition of Private Sector Organizations is Resurrected

The reformed Coalition of Private Sector Organizations currently consists of four members including BECon. The other three members are the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, the Bahamas Hotel Employers' Association and the Nassau Tourism & Development Board. Since all of these groups have been represented in the core group of the original Coalition, the name of the core group is being changed to the Coalition Committee. As additional organizations formally join the Coalition, they will be invited to have representation on the Coalition Committee.

The Coalition Committee will be meeting again this week to review the results of the Economic Outlook & Labour Legislation Survey. The results of this survey have not yet been compiled, therefore no reference to this survey is made in the documents being presented to the Minister. However, preliminary results show that productivity is a burning issue and it is an issue the Coalition would like to address.

Employer Concerns Regarding Labour Legislation

Due to the diversity of employment and remuneration systems that exist in our nation, it is unlikely that any single group can identify every area of concern. At the final meeting of the Coalition Committee that produced the response to the Minister of Labour, two new concerns were voiced resulting in two additional specific recommendations. In our letter to the Minister we have left the door open to raise additional concerns as they become known.

Each member of BECon and each member of our Coalition partner organizations are urged to read the concerns and recommendations expressed to the Minister, and in the event that you have a specific concern that has not been addressed, please inform us so that we can incorporate that concern into future communications.

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