By RIEL MAJOR

Tribune Staff Reporter

rmajor@tribunemedia.net

THE National Insurance Board called on the Union of Public Officers to de-escalate its issues to reach an amicable solution that won’t disrupt the pension and other benefit payments to residents who rely on NIB.

In a press statement released yesterday, NIB noted the agency will continue to cooperate in good faith with its staff union to assist the Ministry of the Public Service and National Insurance to conclude negotiations on a new industrial agreement in an environment where the board has to improve its efficiency targets and better manage administrative costs.

The statement read: “Negotiations were moved from the executive team and board to the minister of the public service and National Insurance by the union in May 2019 after three months of negotiations. Notwithstanding this, tremendous progress had been made during that time to increase staff benefits substantially within the parameters set by the board. Only a few items were left to be concluded.

“While typical agreements in the Bahamas have ranged between six to 10 percent in salary increases over a five-year period, demands made upon NIB by the Union of Public Officers have been calculated to be in excess of 20 percent for the five-year contract. The board’s focus and expectations include increased staff productivity through stronger performance management tools to ensure that NIB delivers better services to The Bahamian public.”

The statement added: “NIB maintains a generous package on education and training programmes, health insurance and an employee pension plan. Over the six-month period between January and June 2019 over 56 staff and management, 10 percent of total staff, were promoted, mostly through competitive processes and to fill vacant positions.”

NIB said it is not a “for profit” company, adding the funds and income are derived from the contributions of the workers and employers.

“Instead, contribution income is held in trust for the payment of benefits such as retirement and pension benefits, maternity, unemployment, survivor and funeral benefits and assistance. The 9th Actuarial Review of the NIB Fund recommended that administrative expenses be reduced to a goal of 10 percent of contributions by 2021. NIB’s administrative expenses have remained around 17-21 percent of contributions – an unsustainable level given the stress on the fund from increasing benefits payments,” the statement read.

“The National Insurance Board must exercise prudence in the growth of its staff costs as highlighted in its actuarial report so as to not jeopardise the continued existence of the fund as source of partial income replacement to workers in their time of need. NIB’s executive team has embarked upon an ambitious strategic plan to modernise its operations, improve customer service; provide more of its services on an online basis, improve employee productivity through training and better performance management, strengthen its governance and ensure the solvency of the fund for generations to come by sound financial management.”

The statement came after a strike poll by employees was postponed on Friday until further notice. Director of Labour John Pinder said there were some legal issues with the process.

”The NIB strike poll was postponed. There were some illegalities with the whole matter and the NIB president has been advised of it so as soon as they correct the situation and apply for a new date then they’ll go ahead and have it done then if the matter is still outstanding,” Mr Pinder said on Friday.

Last week, NIB employees protested after negotiations for a new industrial agreement failed.

Speaking to reporters outside NIB headquarters during the workers’ morning tea break, Ghion Roach, Union of Public Officers (UPO) president, said they walked off the job because the union wanted to send a message.

Mr Roach said: “We’ve been ignored for too long; we’ve been disrespected, and we’ve been disregarded. The union has not been dealt with fairly and we’re here to let management know this Friday the union is prepared to take it to the polls and have a strike vote. The outcome of that vote will be ‘yes’, and we will send the message loud and clear.

“The main issue is the executive managers refuse to come back to the table. We’ve had stalled negotiations from April. The matter has been intervened by the Department of Labour and it’s now October and we still haven’t had no resolution.”

He added: “We had a contract that expired December of last year. We went back to the table in February – negotiations stalled in April. We’ve been trying to get the director back to the table, her team and her, and they have outright told us ‘no.’”

NIB said negotiations are expected to continue today at the office of the minister for the public service and National Insurance.