A "redundancy fund" can only be funded by employers paying into it, or government taxing us more to fund it, or both.
Higher costs means less employment, less investment, higher burden on those left.
It is a vicious cycle they seem determined to see to it's inevitable end: Complete economic collapse.
Unions are nothing more than Government sanctioned pillaging of the working class.
Right alongside the Government.

Recommendations were made after Hurricane Francis, Jean,
Completely ignored by Government. Instead they empower themselves to seize private assets
"where deemed by the minster to be necessary" with terms for compensation to be arranged after. Don't forget the "summary conviction clause" for non compliance.
Yet the private sector has the means and ways to effect rapid re-supply, and even pre-supply, means and ways the Government will never have.
Idiots.

Plenty talk about the good this administration will do, but no action yet,
and then this.
Dumb asses. Can no elected official get anything right?
Boat's sinking and they're walking around drilling holes!

Nassau Bahamians, especially business people, generally do not trust Freeport. They don't understand it, almost resent it. And who could blame them? All they hear of it are Customs battles, shareholder battles, Stagnation and closed hotels, pipe dreams of cruise ship ports and industry. To invest in Freeport requires effort, study, and knowing what (and who) to believe.
Nassau is the center of their universe. They think their world will never change.
They make money there in spite of themselves.
No different from Foreign investors really, why buy in Freeport if you'll hire lawyers in Nassau, sign deals in Nassau, and have the Government pitching you to invest in Nassau?

Pure same old B.S.
The only conceivable and probable reason not to open the deal to public scrutiny is to protect political families whether PLP or FNM. No doubt some of both got their piece.
Which means this administrations is no different from any that has gone before.
It is too soon to become disillusioned but I see and hear it every where I go.
Is Carl Bethel conflicted out himself?

“I was the second [Bahamian] minister to go to the WTO, and I made a presentation."
I understand his presentation was to sleep/drool on the table during discussions, as partying all night took precedent. When the point person/Minister sleeps, the Bahamas team had to sit back and wait for the Jac@a** to awake!

Completely ignoring economies of scale, among many other principals that function resolutely no matter how free (or not free) a given economy is.
One is free choice. The individual choosing where his money is spent.
Currently Bahamians seem to choose to spend 2.11 billion or more/year in Florida.
If tasked with actually paying power bills etc etc, might Sunburst Paint be insolvent?
In which case protection by tariff rates is pointless and more harmful than good.
This reversal is worrisome. What happens when the major tough decisions have to be made?
Decisions need to be made on sound principals and objectives.

Political timidity is no way to fix this country,
Protectionism never works. It just punishes the population.
The people, remember?

Given those numbers, and the frequency and close spacing of payments, this guy would have to have a fleet of trucks and heavy machinery beyond what anyone in this country could possibly possess!
This is simple logistics. How does one burn thru that kind of money that fast?
The answer is simple: Thieving on a scale that would make Pindling blush!
We need a wall of shame with pictures and all, listing their crimes, and write a text book to be used in schools!
Last chapter: Time served and $$ recovered!
This has me reeling.........

"He argued that tariff barriers to foreign imports were losing their effectiveness regardless of whether the Bahamas became a full World Trade Organisation (WTO) member or entered into other liberalized, rules-based trading regimes, which see such measures as impediments to global trade."
Precisely the Point and driving force behind the wto, eu-epa and all other trade agreements!
Even the OECD and IMF are circling the swamp that is Nassau.
No prior Government has been open and honest about our various commitments and timelines on our strategy (minimal at best) or objectives (again, what are they?) or our commitments.
The overall strategy is to alleviate all the other limiting factors and constrictions preventing firstly internal competition and external competitiveness.
Unfortunately the Government is offender #1.