Members of the Free National Movement (FNM) led by Party Leader and Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Michael Pintard met with members of the Trade Union Congress on Monday.
Pintard spoke about the issue of re-engaging retirees within the public service. He said, “there are circumstances under which that institutional knowledge that they have can be of benefit to The Bahamas. But we ought to be awfully careful in bringing them back in the exact same position that they retired in and with the new policy that’s been put in place to give them two salaries. They get their pension and they are able to get new salary. The problem with that is two fold one, it is a burden financially on a country despite a rebounding economy that is now facing serious challenges that’s why some of you would have your deductions paid late.”
President of the Trade Union Congress, Obie Ferguson was also in attendance. He made the point that the Employment Act is not in the best interest of the Bahamian workers. “If I work for the company for thirty five years how could you justify, put legislation in effect that only recognize twelve, that just don’t make no sense. Look at Barbados and them other progressive countries. We say if you work for the government you get twelve months pay on redundancy and if your not in a managerial or supervisory position you get what, twenty six weeks.”
The meeting was held at the Red Cross Society.
