By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Electricity Corporation officials signed a new industrial agreement with the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union yesterday afternoon in the absence of BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller.

Mr Miller has expressed concerns about the contract, particularly requests for lump sum payments and issues over rostering. He previously said the agreement was “not in the best interest of the people”.

Mr Miller was absent from the signing and when contacted for comment said he “knew nothing about it” and “did not care”.

However, Labour Minister Shane Gibson and BEC General Manager Kevin Basden signed the contract on behalf of the government and corporation.

In the new contract, existing workers will not receive a salary increase, however, more than 1,000 union members are expected to receive a lump sum payment ranging from $1,200 to $3,200 next week in addition to Christmas bonuses.

Existing workers will not have to contribute to pension or insurance plans, however provisions were made for new employees to pay 30 per cent of their insurance costs.

As it relates to rostering, Mr Basden said while no agreement was added to the contract for existing employees, the union and the government will continue to negotiate and they have 180 days to come to an agreement on this.

“The contract makes provisions for further negotiations or discussions with the union for rostering with some of the existing employees, but what the contract also does is that new employees can be rostered, so there has been some improvement. New employees can be rostered right away,” he said.

“The pension plan that exists does not facilitate the payment of employees into that fund. What is being looked at is to revamp the pension plan at some point in time. Both parties agreed that it is not sustainable and changes have to take place. It is not just the matter of employees paying into the pension plan that exists because that particular plan is not structured in that way. As it relates to medical insurance there is a change for new employees. They will make some compensation toward that, 30/70, and it also makes provisions for changes with the implementation of National Health Insurance.”

According to Mr Miller, as it stands, BEC pays 100 per cent of the employees’ medical insurance as well as contributes all of the money in the pension plan – at a cost of $16 million per annum.

Mr Gibson said while both sides have to “give up something” he hopes they can work together in the future for the good of the corporation.

He said: “Neither side got everything they wanted. There are things management would like to see out of the agreement that has been there for a while that we did not get. Employees would love to see hefty increases as it was over the years, but because of these challenging times everyone had to modify their position. Sometimes it got testy but it is all a part of the negotiations process. All of those things happened in the past. We have to let bygones be bygones because we have a corporation to run and we look forward to everyone working amicably”.

Mr Maynard said he hopes the union and the government can negotiate in good faith as it relates to rostering and it can be done without “too many blows being thrown”.

The new contract is retroactive to May 2012 and expires in 2018.

Last month the BEWU and Mr Miller engaged in a standoff because of the Tall Pines MP’s refusal to sign the document. The union went on work-to-rule and threatened to take a strike poll over the matter, but later backed down from those threats.