NY Tourism staff appeal for a better severance deal
By Tim Smith
North American Tourism Office employees are appealing to Government to improve their redundancy packages as they prepare to find out whether they have still got jobs.
And as long-serving Bermudians await the announcement on their futures, the Americans lined up by Sales Focus to replace them have already arrived on the Island for training.
Ousted staff are asking for more cash to help repatriate their children in Bermuda to offset some of the upheaval from Premier Ewart Brown's controversial move to kick them out of their office.
They say Government had provided youngsters with air passage upon commencement of their parents' employment.
Close to 30 employees were said to be about to discover their fate yesterday — with many expecting to have just 60 days to return to the Island and find new homes, jobs and schools for their children.
And they dismiss Bermuda Public Services Union's claim that "most staff members were able to secure jobs elsewhere" — saying that as of yesterday afternoon only one, American Michael Rigg, had done so.
They remain angry that Government broke its contractual agreement by failing to hold consultation before outsourcing their jobs to the US firm, making it more difficult to find alternatives to redundancy.
Tourism Permanent Secretary Cherie Whitter told staff the move had been planned for months but Tourism Minister Dr. Brown decided to keep it quiet.
Negotiations are still underway between BPSU and Government, but staff say the offer is likely to be based on their length of service and will cover relocation expenses.
However, one employee claimed they wanted a better package to reflect the fact Government broke the contract.
"Government has not followed the collective bargaining agreement. Now all of a sudden they want to follow collective bargaining which puts people at a disadvantage," said the employee.
"We are asking that they bend up on that a little because of the economic crisis. It's going to be very difficult for us to get jobs now."
The staff member asked not to be named because of what is described as a culture of intimidation.
Staff have continued working since finding out Sales Focus were taking over this summer.
They had a stay of execution after BPSU forced a court injunction while it pushed for a judicial review, but that ended when the union and Government decided to settle out of court.
Lawyers had previously said they were extremely confident the union would win its case because Government broke its contractual agreement.
But because Government rushed through the binding contract with Sales Focus before the injunction was put in place, it would likely have ended up with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
BPSU president Armell Thomas said on Wednesday the reason the judicial review was dropped was because Government had put redundancy packages together.
However, Mrs. Whitter contradicted that in this press statement released on Thursday evening: "The process of determining new posts and redundancies in North America is not complete."
Dr. Brown previously has made a number of public pledges to find jobs in the Civil Service for those Bermudians heading home but the Ministry has gone quiet on the subject since staff started doubting they would get those jobs.
Disgruntled staff sent a collective e-mail to The Royal Gazette, while employees have telephoned and e-mailed on an individual basis, keen for their views to be published.
Despite this, Mrs. Whitter said in her statement: "Any reporting on this subject now as it relates to employees is at least inaccurate and at worst irresponsible. I think you will find that even the union representing these employees agrees that speculative reporting is a disservice to the people involved."
Responding, one staff member laughed at the suggestion the Ministry wanted to silence the press for the good of employees and said: "There's nothing that they are doing for the good of us."
