By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The Prime Minister yesterday asserted that his administration has “lived up to the promise we made to workers” in the August 2021 pact signed with the two umbrella trade union bodies.

Philip Davis KC defended his decision to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and National Congress of Trades Unions of The Bahamas (NCTUB) while serving as leader of the Opposition, describing it as a “wise decision” since it provided a “mechanism” to respond to the challenges workers faced.

“Yeah, it was a wise decision. And we have lived up to the to the promise we made to workers. We signed that the MoU with the TUC for the purposes of ensuring that workers get their just [rewards] in this country,” said Mr Davis.

“The TUC represented them, but this was for the purpose of ensuring that we understand workers' complaints and concerns, and that we're able to address it. We were setting up a mechanism to which we could respond to what they claim to be the challenges they face in the workplace, the challenges they're facing as citizens of this country, and bringing resolution to those challenges.”

The TUC recently announced that itself and its affiliates will not be participating in this year’s Labour Day Parade on Friday, asserting that the Davis administration is not “honouring” their agreement. Obie Ferguson KC, its president, said the government has failed to live up to multiple terms including a provision that promises to fund the restoration of the House of Labour.

Mr Davis, though, yesterday reiterated that Labour Day is about workers, not politics, and accused Mr Ferguson of choosing to “abdicate his responsibility to workers". This, he added, "weakens" the labour movement.

“When I met recently with Mr Ferguson, and he indicated to me what he intended to do, I then encouraged him. I said: 'But this is not about PLP or FNM, this is about labour’. This is about workers, and he should not abdicate his responsibility of demonstrating to workers the worth of coming together and being able to unify; to demonstrate to the country that the labour movement is what it is, and that the labour movement has a role to play in this country,” said Mr Davis.

“To abdicate that only, to my mind, weakens the movement. This is about showing strength of the movement. That's what this day is specifically designed for; to demonstrate the strength of the labour movement, to demonstrate the dignity of work, to demonstrate that we as workers are the engine. The country can't move without workers and that calls for sensitising our people and employers, in particular, that we need to respect and ensure that the dignity of work is preserved.”

Defending the PLP’s decision to both launch its election campaign on Labour Day and participate in the march, Mr Davis said the PLP and the labour movement have been “joined by the hips from time immemorial”.

He added that the party has been participating in the march since the day was officially marked as a holiday. “The labour movement and the Progressive Liberal Party have been joined by the hips from time immemorial. And yes, there may be issues, as there'll be any issues in any marriage, but to criticise us for marching?” Mr Davis asked.

“We march in solidarity with workers, and this is to acknowledge the worth of work, the worth of labour and the effectiveness of unity amongst workers, and that's what we tried to promote.”

The pact between the PLP and two umbrella union bodies, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and National Congress of Trades Unions of The Bahamas (NCTUB), committed the party to multiple fundamental labour-friendly reforms if it won the Government following the September 2021 general election.

For instance, the MoU “pledged” a PLP government to raising the redundancy cap to 24 months through changes to the Employment Act once elected. And, as “a matter of fundamental principle”, it committed a PLP government to “declaring its unequivocal support for trade unions in the workplace, including automatic agency shop”.

Agency shop, which is viewed as protecting a union’s security, would result in non-union members in a particular workplace paying service fees to the union to cover costs associated with collective bargaining agreements the latter secures.

Agency shop agreements are highly-regulated in developed countries, and the US Supreme Court in 2018 ruled that such deals are invalid in the public sector for that country. However, the PLP-union MoU committed both sides to altering the Employment Act’s section 42 such that agency shop becomes “automatic” once a trade union is recognised as the sole bargaining agent for a workplace.

Other areas where the unions and the now-government agreed to work together included changing laws and regulations “where necessary and possible”, such as “allowing for at least 16 hours of rest between shifts for each employee”.

They also committed to “redefine wages to include all forms of income, including tips and gratuities”, and to look at several other potential changes to the Employment Act. These include amending section 26 (4), so that employees are entitled to redundancy pay, gratuity and a pension in cases where the employer provides a non-contributory pension.

And the PLP-union MoU also commits the parties to assessing if the Act’s section 29 can be changed so that redundancy/dismissal is based on wages instead of basic pay. The document also committed the now-government to formally consulting the unions before permits and tax breaks/concessions are granted to foreign investors, and to using its “good offices” to ensure industrial agreements in all sectors are reached.

Both sides also agreed to “work towards the enactment of a livable wage”, although no details were given, as well as passing a National Redundancy Fund Act and enabling the Industrial Tribunal’s rulings “to be enforced without delay” rather than litigants having to seek their implementation via the Supreme Court.

The MoU extended well beyond pure labour-related matters, too, calling for the PLP and unions to work on a National Pension Act and Culture, Heritage, Art & Entertainment Encouragement Act. The two parties also agreed to fully implement National Health Insurance (NHI), including hospital and catastrophic care.

In addition, the PLP and umbrella unions agreed that “the heads of registered trade unions and their secretary-generals or designates should be Justices of the Peace”, while a Davis-led administration would also provide the TUC and NCTUB each with “a parcel of land” - presumably Crown Land - upon which each can build their respective headquarters buildings.