By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

PRESIDENT of the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union Paul Maynard yesterday said there will be no layoffs “for now” at the Bahamas Power and Light Company now that the new management company has taken over.

In an interview with The Tribune, Mr Maynard said he along with Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union (BEUMU) President Clinton Minnis met with BPL CEO Pam Hill who assured the unions that there will be “no staff cuts for the time being”.

However, Mr Maynard said he made it clear that the union will not stand by while the price of electricity continues to skyrocket to an unsustainable rate.

“We had a very frank meeting and we promised her we will do all we can to help her with the process. We also told her staff morale is very low and employees were anxious to know what changes would be made,” Mr Maynard said.

“We also told her that we will work with them but only if these changes are done right because we are tired of the poor woman getting a light bill and having to decide whether to feed her children or pay the bill. That cannot exist anymore in this country. The union will not stand by while the status quo continues.

“We will ensure that electricity goes down to an affordable rate and nothing and no one will get in the way. For the time being, there will be no staff cuts because we are going to engage with her in other cost cutting measures to save the staff. So at the present that is not in the works.”

In February, a top executive of PowerSecure, the American firm contracted to manage the former Bahamas Electricity Corporation, said there could “potentially be a reduction” in workforce in the coming months as officials seek to reorganise staff under the operations of the new Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) company.

However, Ronnie Brannen, PowerSecure’s president of utility infrastructure, stressed that should this happen, management would look at offering voluntary packages to employees with long tenures at the corporation.

The comments came as PowerSecure officially signed a five-year management services agreement for BPL.

Mr Brannen did not say what percentage of staff reduction PowerSecure was possibly considering and could not say what reduction in consumer electricity costs was expected.