Pinder: 60 percent of workforce remains in limbo
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Director of Labour John Pinder suggested yesterday that the government has continued to extend the state of emergency in The Bahamas in part to protect thousands of workers who have remained furloughed since last year.
In a controversial move, the government has extended the emergency orders until May 23.
According to the director, major hotel employers would have had to make a decision to bring back or terminate furloughed employees by the end of February in absence of the extension of the emergency orders.
“If the government did not extend the emergency order, then the employers would have had to make a decision on their staff by the end of February, which means they would either bring [them] back to work or let them all go,” he told Eyewitness News, when contacted about the latest extension.
“So, in an effort to protect both the employees and the employers — because if you let those employees go, there is no guarantee the employer will rehire them and there is no guarantee they will be able to keep their benefits; some of them are still enjoying their benefits, even though they’re furloughed.
“So, when the government extended the emergency order a little further, it gave them an opportunity now to — we can only hope and pray that Canada and Europe ease up on these various restrictions they have as it relates to travel protocols and the airlines start coming again, and the cruise lines start coming again and tourism opens up again.
“Once that happens, then we’ll be in a position to bring those persons back to work because we should have the business then. But the lack of tourism business is causing the government to have to continuously make decisions to extend the emergency order.
“In the event that things pick up, we don’t [want] the hotel to be caught in a situation where all the staff has been made redundant.”
Pinder said he recommended to some of the larger hotel employers to offer, where possible, severance packages for furloughed employees who are nearing retirement age.
When asked about joblessness in the country more than 10 months since the onset of the pandemic and more than three months since the country’s full tourism opening, Pinder estimated that unemployment in the country remains at around 42 percent while the total figure of people not working, including those who remain furloughed, stands at around 60 percent.
However, he said with the progress of vaccination programs worldwide and the expected rollout of vaccines in The Bahamas in the near future, these numbers should soon improve significantly.
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