By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Planned legal amendments will eliminate a ‘potential conflict’ that requires the Industrial Tribunal to act “as judge, jury and executioner” over industrial agreements, a union leader yesterday telling Tribune Business that “90 per cent” of these deals were not registered.

Obie Ferguson, president of the Trades Union Congress and a labour attorney, backed the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill as “very significant for labour relations”, adding that other reforms would prevent employers from “coercing” workers and interfering with a union’s internal affairs.

The Bill, which has been tabled in Parliament and had its first reading, removes the power for registering Bahamian industrial agreements from the Industrial Tribunal and places it in the hands of the Registrar of Trade Unions.

The Registrar is also the Director of Labour, and Mr Ferguson said: “The significance of that is that the Tribunal will not be judge, jury and executioner all in one.

“If they register an agreement, they ought not to be required to examine the same agreement they registered, and adjudicate on an agreement they claim was in accordance with the law.”

In essence, Mr Ferguson said the current system - which requires the Industrial Tribunal to register all industrial agreements in the Bahamas - places it in a ‘conflicted’ position, since it also potentially has to hear cases centred on the same agreements.

“The Tribunal president has to vet it to ensure there is no illegality,” the TUC leader said. “The way it is now, the same Tribunal is reviewing the same document they say has no illegality in it to see if there is illegality.

“It doesn’t make sense, and we asked the Government to make these changes, which they seem to be willing to do.”

Under the Bill, the Registrar of Trade Unions will be responsible for registering trade union agreements “once the parties agree to the terms” and there is nothing illegal in them.

The Bills sets out a process for the Registrar to request the removal of anything illegal from a proposed agreement, and for both parties to challenge his decision on this matter in the courts.

Disputes relating to industrial agreements will still be heard before the Industrial Tribunal.

“About 90 per cent of the industrial agreements in the Bahamas are not registered,” Mr Ferguson told Tribune Business. “All the industrial agreements in Freeport are not registered, and very few industrial agreements are registered in Nassau.

“We feel it is very important that these agreements be registered to protect employers and employees, as they will know whether the document is valid. So it’s a very significant issue for the workers of the country.”

Mr Ferguson added that he wanted Bahamian labour laws to be better understood, so industrial issues were “not so contentious and everything goes to court. It will be clearly understood by all and sundry that this is the process to follow”.

Elsewhere, the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill will prevent Bahamian employers from seeking a Ministerial decision on whether a trade union’s bargaining agent status be revoked “and another union recognised as bargaining agent or otherwise”.

Mr Ferguson agreed that this amendment was prompted by the recent Sandals situation, and lengthy court battle over which union should be recognised to represent the resort’s workers.

“I think it was necessary,” he said of the amendment, “because the recognition of the union is really between the employee and the union.

“The purpose of the recognition as far as the employer is concerned is to make sure that ‘50 per cent plus one’ are legitimate employees, and they have paid the required dues for joining and complied with the Industrial Relations Act.

“Once that is done, the internal aspects of the union is of no concern to the employer.”

Mr Ferguson added that without the proposed amendment, “the employer might be in a position to coerce the workers and say they’re not part of the union”.

He added that such situations had happened in the past, where companies and employers were found to be assisting workers in making applications to the Minister of Labour saying they did not want to be part of a trade union.

“It’s for trade unions to operate without any interference,” Mr Ferguson told Tribune Business of the proposed amendment

“In the Sandals matter, the employer joined with the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) in attempting to deny the Maintenance Union the right to be the bargaining agent.”

The ensuing court battle went all the way to the Privy Council, and Mr Ferguson said the highest court in the Bahamian judicial system found Sandals and the BHCAWU were “working together to deny Maintenance to be the bargaining agent, despite 252 workers voting for it and 18 voting for BHCAWU.

“Despite all the evidence, the employer was still of the view that they can decide which union they would wish to deal with.”

The TUC leader added of the amendment: “It brings clarity to the industrial relations process, and it will now put the process of recognition revocation clearly and squarely where it ought to be - in the hands of the workers who are paying their dues and are affected by the process.

“It’s also good for the industrial relations system, where employers will not now make applications willy nilly. It’s very significant for industrial relations, and we welcome that. The entire labour movement supports that.”