President of the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) Paul Maynard said the former Progressive Liberal Party administration disagreed with the proposed business plan which supports the termination of Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) employees.
Mr. Maynard’s comments came during an interview with The Bahama Journal yesterday, where he explained that former Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis did not agree with the plan.
“The business plan wanted to let people go. He [Mr. Davis] was not in agreement with that; neither he nor the former prime minister was in agreement with that,” Mr. Maynard said.
According to Mr. Maynard, Mr. Davis shared his view with him to offset such plans delineated in the business plan to fire persons.
“To combat that, he [Mr. Davis] would add a few cents on to the kilowatt hour in order to keep the staff,” Mr. Maynard explained.
The Bahamas Power and Light Business Plan, prepared by PowerSecure, covered a number of strategies PowerSecure recommended, such as reliability and affordability.
The plan operated on the assumption that BPL has a staffing level that appears to be about 30 percent high compared to utilities of similar size and make up.
During his contribution to the debate in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, Minister of Works Desmond Bannister said, “Integral to the business plan, which the former administration agreed with, was a decision that a reduction of staff by approximately 30 percent would result in savings of $13 million annually.”
Mr. Bannister further explained the business plan’s vision.
“The plan refers to the proposed reduction of staff at BPL as ‘a business necessity,’ and envisioned the separation of 233 BPL staff members through a redundancy process in August or October 2017, together with a possible reduction of an additional 64 staff members in September 2018,” Mr. Bannister said.
“This business plan and the plan to separate 233 staff members at BPL has remained a secret of the former administration until today.”
Mr. Bannister affirmed during his contribution in the House of Assembly that the current administration made no obligations to PowereSecure’s business plan.
“The people’s government has made no commitment to a redundancy separation plan. The PowerSecure business plan is being carefully reviewed for its viability in the Bahamian economy. Decisions will be taken in due course in the best interest of the Bahaman people.”
