Prime Minister Perry Christie on Wednesday tried to allay the concerns of the more than 350 former City Market employees still demanding their severance packages and pension fund.

The workers were sent to the unemployment line after the food store chain folded in March.

The former employees are demanding a collective $3 million severance package and assurances about their pension fund.

Last month, the employees rejected a $2 million severance package offer from Bahamas Supermarket Limited (BSL) – City Market’s parent company.

While the prime minister did not have much of an update on the status of talks between representatives of the workers and BSL officials, he did seem confident that a resolution was near.

“They are asking to see me now because certain offers have been made to them and I think they want to see me. I don’t know their position with respect to that. I know there has been significant movement on the part of Mr. [Mark] Finlayson (BSL’s president) and those who represent him and that every effort has been made to reach a position that is satisfactory to the workers.”

In the past, Mr. Finlayson has given assurances that the former employees would be paid their severances once BSL had completed its sale of City Market to Super Value; however, that sale took place more than two months ago and the employees claim that they have still not been paid.

Wanslaw Turnquest, a former auditor with City Market and spokesperson for the employees, told The Bahama Journal recently that the workers are pressing forward with a lawsuit for their pension fund.

“They have to meet the basic requirement of law and we have to protect the citizens of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The law is the law,” Mr. Turnquest said.

“It does not matter who is management or who is not in management, the labour laws in this country is to protect the ordinary man in this country.”