Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) President Kimsley Ferguson yesterday threatened industrial action if government does not make a $10 million hazard payment he said is owed collectively to Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) employees.
Ferguson said Prime Minister Philip Davis assured him that the payment will be made, but Ferguson said he needs something “a bit more definitive than that”.
“There is an additional concern with an agreement that we … signed with the Public Hospitals Authority,” Ferguson told reporters outside the Office of the Prime Minister.
“From sometime in February when the agreement was signed, there was supposed to be a payout to various categories of persons in relation to hazard allowance.
“Commitments were made by the PHA to ensure that those payments [are] made. To date, those payments have yet to be made.
“I had the opportunity to speak with the prime minister of The Bahamas, in reference to the same, who assured me that the payments would be made. While that is satisfying to some extent, I expressed to the prime minister that I needed something a bit more definitive than that.”
Ferguson said 4,000 employees are affected by the delayed payout. He added that the total payout each employee would get was based on their assessed level of risk.
“We are going to call a meeting with our membership and we will be guided and instructed by the membership,” Ferguson said.
“We are going to send out a notice and we are hopeful that by Tuesday evening, we can meet with the membership and some decision can be made moving forward.”
Ferguson said the payments are retroactive to July 1, 2022.
“[The managing director] has indicated that she must wait until the funding is forwarded from the Ministry of Finance to satisfy those payments,” he said.
“We are indeed very concerned and we have sought to work along with the PHA in this particular regard, but whatever the hold up is, nobody is communicating the same to us, so that we can inform our constituents.
“In my conversation with the managing director, the reasoning for the delay has not yet been established, and so we cannot assure the PHA or the government of The Bahamas for that fact, that there won’t be some form of industrial action if we are unable to get a definitive response on when those payments would be made.
“We have signed in good faith and we are hoping that the government would do their part. There are persons who are working in an environment that is hazardous to their health.
“There is the likelihood that these individuals can [spread] ailments to their family members, and so we are very concerned.
“We’ve been agitating for an insurance coverage for those particular individuals and the authority has not acquiesced to that. We are making an appeal to the government of The Bahamas.”