By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation’s (BAIC) general manager last night accused the trade union representing its line staff of rejecting “the olive branch” he offered upon taking office.

Rocky Nesbitt, responding to the General Workers Union’s (GWU) allegations that the state-owned agency was refusing to negotiate a new industrial agreement, said it had never given him a chance to address its grievances before filing a complaint against BAIC with the Magistrate’s Court.

The union, via its attorney, Obie Ferguson, on September 8, 2020, had requested that the court issue a summons over its June 30 complaint that BAIC was failing to negotiate with the legally recognised and certified bargaining agent for its line staff in violation of the Industrial Relations Act.

Mr Nesbitt, though, said the complaint’s filing occurred one day before he formally took office on July 1, 2020. And the September 8 request for a summons occurred just nine days before his already-scheduled meeting with Dr Thomas Bastian, the GWU’s president, on September 17, 2020.

“They didn’t even give me an opportunity,” the BAIC chief said. “We sat down, were introduced for the first time. I gave him an olive branch and promised to work with the union on the issues and grievances that were before my time.”

These issues, he added, included salary increments that had not been paid as well as outstanding promotions. Mr Nesbitt said he hired an assistant general manager with responsibility for human resources on October 13 to go through the issue of unpaid increments and reconcile the union’s claims with BAIC’s records.

With the world “in the middle of a pandemic”, and the Government having frozen all pay increases, hirings and promotions across-the-board in the civil service, Mr Nesbitt said he had informed the union that any promised increments would have to be deferred until the 2021 Budget year. However, he added that he was “willing to sit down and negotiate” those issues in advance.

Asserting that it was “false” for the union to allege BAIC was refusing to meet and negotiate, Mr Nesbitt added that the GWU had yet to address a trade dispute filed by the government agency over the inclusion of middle management staff members in what is supposed to be a line staff bargaining unit.

Arguing that this matter needed to be cleared up, Mr Nesbitt said of his talks with Mr Bastian: “I have him an olive branch. Me and you can negotiate on all issues. I will set aside my schedule at the beginning and end of each month until we have these negotiations completed.

“I have not heard from Dr Bastian. We are willing to address grievances and issues with our staff, but the union has to meet us half-way. Making comments that we refused to meet with the union, that’s completely untrue.”

Mr Nesbitt said the union’s allegations were “a shameful attempt at grandstanding” after it replaced the Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) as the line staff’s bargaining agent, and “a poor attempt to garner support from staff members”.

He added: “Transparency, accountability. That’s the order of the day, and if there are persons not aligned with the guidelines, rules and procedures they’ll be let go. We have to account for the people’s monies each and every day. We would have been way ahead had he [Dr Bastian] kept his word to meet with me personally and negotiate and begin to determine the way forward.

“We can’t afford increment increases at this time. We’re in a pandemic. It has to be deferred until next year’s Budget, but BAIC and I am willing to negotiate. When we’re on a better financial footing I’m willing to pay it. We don’t have the money now. We have to be financially prudent. We have to be efficient. There’s going to be a rough window until 2021.”

Mr Nesbitt also accused Obie Ferguson, the GWU’s attorney and Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, of failing to practice what he preached by making the claims against BAIC just days after telling Tribune Business that industrial unrest needed to be avoided at all costs due to the economic devastation inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This interpretation, though, was vehemently rejected by Mr Ferguson, who told this newspaper that BAIC’s refusal to meet with the GWU had left it with no choice but to “follow the law and go from there. That’s why we’re going to court. I cannot see why they will not meet and negotiate. The employer needs to work with the union.

“We recognise this is a difficult period in the country, and we want to work with the Government and the employers, but we have to make sure the union is respected. The law says you are obliged to meet and treat with the recognised union, and do it in good faith.”

Mr Ferguson said that as a result of the bargaining impasse “morale has been terribly low” among BAIC’s staff.

“It’s very, very low, a record low as a matter of fact, based on what they told me,” he added.