A new three year industrial agreement has been signed between the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union [BCPOU] and the Bridge Authority. The agreement paves the way for better salaries and enhanced benefits for Bridge Authority employees.

Chairman of the Bridge Authority, Basil Longley was at the signing event and said, “the salary scales were expanded because as you increase increments each staff member would move closer and closer to the top of their salary scale. So we wanted to ensure that after the increments are awarded that there was still room within the salary scale for any further increases.”

For her part, Sherry Benjamin, President of the BCPOU said, “we would have hoped that the years that would have gone that was expired we would have been able to get something for those years, however, Mr. Longley and Mr. Evans, the Labour Consultant, pointed out to us that the economic conditions of the country at this time was not favorable to allow for us to be able to get compensation for those years. We don’t want to seem unreasonable or unrealistic cause we live in the same environment that they live in. And so, we understand that the government is trying their best to right the economy. And so, while I personally would have like more for the members at the Bridge Authority, the members at the Bridge Authority also understand the economic conditions of the country.”