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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2019
$4.52 Freeport to get a school of medicine By YOURI KEMP A DEAL to open a school of medicine in Freeport is expected to make a $60m impact on the island of Grand Bahama. The Heads of Agreement (HOA) was signed yesterday for the Western Atlantic University School of Medicine - and was hailed by Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands as “a step in the right direction” for the island. About 150 jobs will be created at the peak of construction, with more than 50 permanent jobs being created after the first phase of the development. Dr Sands, speaking to Tribune Business after the HOA was signed between the government and the school, said: “The build out is expected to have more than a $60m impact for Grand Bahama. Each student is averaged to have an annual spend of $25,000 a year when you calculate school fees, room and board and other spending for personal expenses inclusive of travel.” He added: “Clearly this is a step in the right direction. The expectation is to redesign and redevelop Grand Bahama post Hurricane Dorian and every little bit counts.” Dr Sands said the signing added to other recent heads of agreement, such as one with Carnival Cruise Line for a $100m proposed cruise port in East Grand Bahama; and one worth $80m for a pier at the northern end of Half Moon Cay.
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Morton Salt industrial action concludes By YOURI KEMP
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LONG-awaited Industrial Agreement was signed yesterday between the Bahamas Industrial Manufacturers & Allied Workers Union (BIMAWU) and Morton Salt Bahamas, ending a twoyear industrial dispute. Michael Nixon, general manager for Morton Salt, said he is committed to fostering a productive working relationship with employees and “is proud to say that they have now reached a five-year agreement” with workers in Inagua. The president of the BIMAWU, Jennifer Brown, said she is “more than elated” to reach the point where they can officially sign this agreement. It has been more than two years, Brown said, and the workers and officers are “very happy”. Ms Brown said she hopes both sides can now work together and said she will encourage workers to give a fair eight-hour work day when they return to Inagua. Earlier this year, there was a mass 40-worker sickout, in addition to other complaints amid what management called an overall slowdown of work habit over the course of this year. This led to a standoff between union and management where management threatened to lock staff members out from
MORTON SALT PLANT IN INAGUA July 3 unless the company received a reply indicating the two sides could reach a “happy medium” over a new industrial agreement. Management backed down from the lock-out and it was never followed through. Ms Brown says she hopes managers will “treat all workers fairly” and that even though there is a contract, it is still “just a piece of paper” and encouraged management to “put it into practice”. President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Obie Ferguson, the lead negotiator for the BIMAWU, said he “strongly suggests” this process is used with all of the unions having issues and sees “no reason” why it cannot be used for
the upcoming Water and Sewerage negotiations in an attempt to settle their matter within the next two weeks. Mr Ferguson said a mechanism that requires “competent” negotiators from employers, government and unions to deal with bargaining impasses involving collective agreements is “critical” as it avoids industrial action. Mr Ferguson previously argued that Morton Salt’s proposal was a “deficit industrial agreement”, and that they were “insulted” by Morton Salt’s initial offer and further called for salary increases that matched the inflation rate. He also said previously that the increases being offered to workers over the proposed
industrial agreement’s threeyear term - 1.5 percent for each of the first two years, and 1.9 percent for the final year - were lower than the current rate of inflation and cost of living increases, which have both been impacted by last year’s VAT rate hike. When asked if this new agreement met his targets, Mr Ferguson said they got a “reasonable figure” that was “satisfactory to the union and management of Morton Salt” and that the union voted “unanimously” to accept the proposal. Mr Nixon also confirmed that the new agreement included wage increases, shift premium increases, production bonuses, holiday pay increases and health insurance coverage.
$4.56 FATF calls for further steps on action By YOURI KEMP THE Bahamas has been praised for its efforts to tackle money laundering and the funding of terrorism in a new report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) - but Attorney General Carl Bethel said experts wanted to see further steps taken by the country. Mr Bethel said a proposed site visit for this month would now likely take place in February next year. He said: “No on-site for October. Not yet. But we hope in February that they will agree an on-site.” The FATF released its revised “strategic deficiencies list” on Friday in which The Bahamas still features. The report on improving compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and combatting the financing of terrorism (CFT) standards said: “The Bahamas made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/ CFT regime and address any related technical deficiencies.” “The Bahamas has taken steps towards improving its AML/CFT regime,” said the report, including implementing items such as instituting a protocol and case management system to further enhance international cooperation; initiating risk-based supervision of non-bank financial institutions; and further implementing the recent Beneficial Ownership Law
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Fidel’s Cuba is long gone By JOSEPH J GONZALEZ The Conversation CUBA is no longer the Americas’ lonely outpost of communism. This Caribbean island has become a nation of entrepreneurship, democratic aspiration, even pro-Americanism. About 13% of Cuban workers are in the private sector, operating their own businesses. They are called “cuentapropistas”, meaning “people who work for themselves” – not for the government. Much of this economic activity is due to former president Raul Castro, who expanded the rights of
Cuban business owners, albeit in fits and starts. Raul’s brother Fidel Castro, who led Cuba’s 1959 communist revolution and ran the country until 2008, would not recognise his country today. Since Cuba’s emerging private sector depends heavily on tourism – including, until a recent Trump administration crackdown, from the United States – the cuentapropistas have transformed the nature of US-Cuban relations, my area of research as a historian. Anti-Americanism is still official Cuba policy. But now, for the first time in Cuba’s
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