Wednesday, September 19, 2012
THIRTEEN BEC workers pocketed more than $600,000 in overtime pay over eight months, The Tribune was told.
These workers earned more in overtime than their base salaries, working some 14,730 hours in overtime between October 2011 and June 2012 – on top of their normal 40-hour work week.
Factoring in a normal working week of 40 hours, Monday to Friday, over the 32 weeks in this specific period, it would mean that these workers laboured from 9am to 1am the next day.
Speaking with The Tribune yesterday, former Minister of State for the Environment Phenton Neymour said that before the FNM was voted out of office, plans were in place for the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) to undergo a forensic analysis with a view to restructuring the organisation, department by department, so as to reduce overtime and improve customer service.
“This has always been a challenge in all of the
government corporations, not just BEC. We have had challenges at the Water and Sewerage (WSC), and previously the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) when it was government owned. But especially with BEC it was one of our top priorities to lower overtime costs when Fred Gottlieb was the chairman. It was a matter that was on the table at every Board meeting.”
According to Mr Neymour, the challenges of BEC’s structure, along with the contract that the Union enjoys with the corporation creates an environment where some employees take advantage of their industrial agreement to get more overtime.
Currently, salaries at BEC constitutes nearly half of the corporation’s total annual expenditure. The corporation, since 2005, has not turned a profit.
Of the 800 salaries reviewed by The Tribune, the highest total amount of overtime paid to any one worker was $63,543 – an increase of 128 per cent from that worker’s base salary of $49,547.
The employee logged 1,265 overtime hours.
The highest percentage increase over base salary was 132.57 per cent – an increase over a base of $38,540 – with an overtime addition of $51,092 for a total salary to date of $89,632. This equated to a total of 1,344.5 overtime hours in eight months.
Dozens of other overtime salaries ranged from $30,000 to $40,000.
According to Mr Neymour, a solution to this ongoing dilemma at BEC requires dialogue between management and the union.
“It also requires an analysis of who is taking advantage of the overtime. And we began that process. But you also have to realise that BEC is a utility and it would require individuals to come out and perform certain duties. The contract stipulates that some employees when called out would be guaranteed a minimum amount of overtime. For example if an employee is called out to turn on a switch which might require them to drive half an hour to and half an hour from the plant, by contract they would get more than that one hour in overtime would warrant. They may get three hours instead.”
Mr Neymour said that overtime pay was reduced under the FNM administration because they required a higher scrutiny of staff. He also said that while he was Minister, they reviewed the connections between managers and workers who would be authorizing their overtime hours.
“Are you aware that also at these corporations, members of management can also receive overtime? The overtime was tracked by the Board and it was an item on the Board’s agenda every meeting while I was the minister. It was under scrutiny. Overtime is an item that can easily get out of hand if you are not paying attention to it on a consistent basis.
“There is one element for the public to recognise, that the fuel component comprises 60 to 65 per cent of their bill. At BEC there needs to be an analysis of the structure of the organization and whether that structure provides the best level of service to consumers. At BEC there are some departments that are overstaffed and some that are understaffed. In some areas where departments are understaffed there may be an abuse of overtime. The answer in my view is not to just hire new persons. For instance there may be an area where staff may be transferred from one section to supplement another.”
In any event, Mr Neymour reminded the public that the union’s presence and its influence is “extremely strong” at these government corporations – warning that any dramatic impact on workers would not come without the threat of industrial action.
“In order to change these industrial agreements, management would have to concede certain points. The contracts have existed for so long that they, in order to diminish a benefit in one area, one may have to advance it in another. That has been the tradition in many cases. The first industrial agreement signed with BEC that did not involve industrial action was when I was the minister,” he said.
Attempts to reach Works Minister Philip “Brave” Davis or the Chairman of BEC Leslie Miller, for comment on this matter were unsuccessful up to press time last night.
Comments
maryann says...
That why no matter what you do to reduce your Electric Bill it just seems to go higher, Bec is just robbing the Bahamian people blind. Someone needs to put a stop to this mess
Posted 19 September 2012, 10:16 p.m. Suggest removal
John says...
Like Too many other Government owned coroprations, Bahamasair, W&SC, Customs, BEC is scandal ridden. Those who are fortunate enough to get in, close the door on the rest of Bahamians and consume all the assets of the corporation. If government totalled all the monies it paid in overtime, wastage and corporation excesses, it alone could use these funds to reduce the unemployment rate to 4 percent or lese. But no because of a bunch of chosen greedy, dishonest individuals government is being drained of all its capital, many of the services these corporations provide are below par (they suck) and young Bahamians watch in amazement as their future is frittered away.
To add insult to injury, Cable and Wireless was let into this country through the back door. They have reduceed the margins paid to wholesalers and retailers of BTC phone cards and top up from $1.25 per $5.00 card to 9 cents (yes NINE CENTS) per card. Not only have Bahamians been sold back into slavery (disgracefully so), but now 51 cents of every dollar BTC makes is now being taken out f they country. Cry shame Bahamas!!
Posted 20 September 2012, 6:31 a.m. Suggest removal
concernedcitizen says...
one you say gov ,corps can,t do anything ,then you complain about BTC being privitized ,which is it ..then when anyone uses slavery as an adjective ,,well ,there are 20 million people enslaved in africa and the middle east today .twice the number of the atlantic slave trade ,,mostly by african war lords ,,where is your rightous anger over that ..2014 will bring compitition in the ph markets ,unless PGC takes it back and makes us beholding ,not slaves ,to another overpaid ,under working union ..
Posted 20 September 2012, 9:38 a.m. Suggest removal
John says...
If you focus more on addressing the topic being discussed rather than trying find a reason to make the discussion personal, then you may appear more intelligent. My complaint was not with BTC being privitised. My issue was with C&W cutting the income on their phone cards from $1.25 per $5.00 card to 9 cents (for wholesaler and retailer to share) per card..maybe you can justify this? Ur lesson in slavery is pointless I don't live in Africa or the Middle East..my issue is with economic enslavement in the Bahamas.
Posted 20 September 2012, 10:28 a.m. Suggest removal
concernedcitizen says...
when every people use hyperbole like "sold back into slavery " i tend not to look for reason ,emotive rhetoric does not make things reality , but it does serve to rally the less educated..
Posted 20 September 2012, 5:51 p.m. Suggest removal
John says...
PS Did you know that B.E.C hired persons to do disconnections and they were paying these people by the number of disconnections they did? Something like $15.00 to disconnect and $10.00 for re-connection. Whats wrong with this is that because these persons were so anxious to disconnect your light and collect huge sums of money from B.E.C, they no longer bothered to check to see if anyone was home or willing to pay the bill before they cut it off. They just sneak into your yard and cut you off and rush to do the next disconnection. Even when they met consumers willing to pay, they disconnected their supply and told the customer they had to go into BEC to pay the bill. SO they still made their $25.00 and inconvencienced the consumer and they were doing this every two weeks yes persons are having their supply disconnected every two weeks...scandalous!
Posted 20 September 2012, 6:41 a.m. Suggest removal
concernedcitizen says...
are you kidding ,if we try and take anything from the union they will sabatage and leave us in darkness ,like they did when the head of btc came to meet pgc ..why do you think are taxes are so high ,to pay our bloated ,entitled civil service ..we can,t keep absorbing our underachievers born from our irresponsable sexual habits with goverment jobs ,,we have borrowed for the last 30 years ...its a ratio that can,t continue ,and Lordy don,t let cuba open ................
Posted 20 September 2012, 9:32 a.m. Suggest removal
John says...
You call them underachievers..I call them displaced workers...You cannot take persons who come from a generation where,at one point, (well for almost 500 years to be exact), they were killed or maimed seriously for knowing how to read and expect them to perform at an A level in the classroom. Even though God " created" the world he "formed" man with his own two hands, from the dust. Therefore manual labor was there from the beginning. The elitsts have taught the ordinary Bahamian to scoff at hard labor (something that many of them use to enjoy doing) and at the same time calling them 'underachievers' when they do not excel in the classroom, hence we have the displaced Bahamian worker being replaced by foreigners. (another blazing example of my xenophobia!
Posted 20 September 2012, 10:41 a.m. Suggest removal
concernedcitizen says...
why are we running a 75% illegitamacy rate ???when do we stop blaming the white man and take responsibilty for ourselves ???i don,t think our inability to read has anything to do with slavery ..do you ever get tired of saying whitey has outsmarted us for thousand of years and continues to ..good lord dude have some pride
Posted 20 September 2012, 5:57 p.m. Suggest removal
John says...
obviously you have me confused with someone else, or maybe you are just someone that IS confused!
Posted 22 September 2012, 12:44 p.m. Suggest removal
concernedcitizen says...
are you an adult??? j brown
Posted 24 September 2012, 6:20 a.m. Suggest removal
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