National Congress of Trade Unions Bahamas President Bernard Evans said there is no truth to the claim that BTC is set to lay off 50 percent of its staff.
Mr. Evans told The Bahama Journal last Friday that the telecommunications company is instead preparing to offer some of its employees voluntary separation packages.
He said, “For two years now, BTC has been trying to offer VSEPS on the table, but both unions have enshrined in their Industrial Agreement provisions for negotiations – how to improve on those packages.
“What the company did apparently was make an offer without first consulting the unions.”
Mr. Evans said it’s widely understood that the company would like to offload “anywhere close to 200 employees”.
The union, he said, has been standing in the gap trying to get management to negotiate, as there are provisions for management to sit with the union and the negotiator and go through a consultative process.
BTC CEO Garfield Sinclair has since issued a statement which said, “The company again emphatically denies any plans to involuntarily separate from any of its employees, so any claims to the contrary are baseless and without foundation.
“As a progressive organization in an intensely competitive environment, BTC’s operating model will continue to evolve in order to provide our customers with a differentiating customer experience as cost efficiently as possible. This means aligning our people, processes and procedures with our ultimate goal of providing the best and most reliable connectivity at competitive prices to our customers throughout The Bahamas, delivering moments that matter.”
He added that the company takes its role as a public institution in The Bahamas very seriously and accordingly ensures that it conducts its affairs in strict compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including consultations with union partners and discussions with our team members.
“BTC is currently finalizing an Industrial Agreement with the BCPMU that will serve the interests of all stakeholders,” he said. “We also recently completed the terms of an Industrial Agreement with the BCPOU that had been outstanding for more than two years.”
