A union leader yesterday said employers are ignoring the legally-stipulated 45-day period in which to begin negotiations, leaving organised labour with no choice but to resort to industrial action.

Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress’s (TUC) president, told Tribune Business: “The difficulty is there is no real penalty. You have 45 days from the date of recognition to treat and negotiate with the union. However, if the employer fails to comply their is no meaningful enforcement mechanism in the Act.”

He continued: “We tried to convince the former Minister of Labour to do it, but it wasn’t done and we’re asking the current minister to see that it is done. If it is not done, eventually what is going to happen is you are going to have a massive industrial action in this country because the unions have no recourse.

“Employers feel they can disregard the 45 days because, in effect, unions have no recourse other than taking industrial action. It should be made clear what will happen if the employer fails to negotiate with the union. There should be no ambiguity. The trade union movement is basically being invited to do something that no one would want them to do. There needs to be reform.”

The Christie administration had introduced changes to the Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act, and labour minister, Dion Foulkes, has said previously that the Minnis administration is also looking at legislative changes.