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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2025
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Stop ‘everything being cancelled’ for workers By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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A PROMINENT trade union yesterday asserted workers are “backing the Government 100 percent” over proposed redundancy protections to stop “everything being cancelled” when firms “go belly-up”. Obie Ferguson KC, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, told Tribune Business the Government has finally “come around” to the position he and other labour leaders have been advocating for 15-20 years with plans to mandate that employers pay a “bond” or finance some form of “redundancy insurance” for their staff so that the latter’s benefits are covered in a corporate collapse. The proposed ‘termination pay’ security is among a package of labour law reforms due to be discussed at Town Hall meetings in New Providence tonight and Grand Bahama tomorrow. Bahamian employers have already voiced strong opposition to the idea, branding it as “dangerous” and “untenable” given the extra cost burden it threatens to inflict following
t 4BZT mOBMMZ ADPNF BSPVOE UP VOJPOT ZFBS PME DBMM t 6SHFT A8F OFFE UP CF NPSF TFOTJUJWF UP UIF XPSLFST multiple expense rises in recent years. Companies have also warned that implementing such a measure will act as a deterrent to hiring and job creation, while some have called for it to only apply to “bad” employers. Mr Ferguson, though, told this newspaper that “we just need to be more sensitive when dealing with working people” and the potential plight they and their families face when an employer suddenly collapses and/or falls into liquidation. While conceding that companies must operate and “make a profit”, he countered that they have “an obligation to what is reasonable” during times when the business is doing well and set aside monies to help workers’ termination pay and other due
benefits should the unexpected happen. The TUC president also suggested there should be no discrimination between so-called ‘good’ and ‘bad’ employers, and reiterated his long-voiced position that “$260 per week is a no-no as far as we’re concerned” when it comes to the weekly minimum wage. He and the umbrella union have been pushing for a $90 per week, or 34.6 percent increase, to $350 a week. “We’re backing the Government 100 percent; we’re supporting the Government 100 percent on that issue,” Mr Ferguson told Tribune Business of the ‘redundancy insurance’ concept. “That’s something we are glad they have accepted the position we have been advocating. For
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Avery’s partnership ended over $635,000 legal battle t 1-1 CZ FMFDUJPO BTQJSBOU 6P# DPVOTFM XJGF JO DPVSU mHIU t -FOPWP $POTUSVDUJPO DIJFG BXBSEFE TUBLF JO FBUFSZ t +VEHF TMBNT hXPFGVMh DPOUSBDU hCMBUBOU OPO DPNQMJBODFh By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
OBIE FERGUSON KC about 15-20 years we’ve been trying to get that in. They’ve come around, and are at least giving it some serious attention. “If you recall, that was a position we had advocated several years ago from the Commonwealth of The Bahamas Trades Union Congress. We took the view that, with most of these companies that go belly up, there’s no protection for the workers. “While these companies are making money and doing extremely well, we said ‘x’ amount has to be put into an escrow account or redundancy fund. What we’re saying is that it just seems reasonable that, when a company goes belly
SECURITY - See Page B5
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A PARTNERSHIP to renovate and re-open Adelaide’s renowned Avery’s Restaurant & Bar has been dissolved by the Supreme Court after it descended into an acrimonious $635,000 legal battle. Acting justice Cheryl Bazard KC ordered that the business relationship which Tracy Ferguson, the University of The Bahamas (UoB) in-house general counsel, and her husband Joseph Paul Johnson, now said to be seeking the PLP nomination for the upcoming Golden Isles by-election, formed with Lenovo Construction Company’s principals cease with effect from her August 27, 2025, ruling. Finding that Rondon Williams, Lenovo’s chief, was “entitled to an equal [50 percent] share in the partnership known as Avery’s”, the judge ordered that an
accounting take place - and an “expert” valuation be performed - to determine the worth of construction improvements to the restaurant property. From there, each side’s contribution to the partnership, and whatever sums they are owed, can be calculated for the six-year period from July 2019 to August 27, 2025. All sums found due and owing to Mr Williams must be paid by December 31, 2025. Mr Williams, fellow Lenovo shareholder, Ria Smith, and the construction company itself launched legal action against Mr Johnson, the “purported owner” of Avery’s, and his wife on August 10, 2021, seeking damages for alleged “breach of contract, loss of income, loss of profit” plus interest and other costs. But acting justice Bazard said the invoices, billings and other documents provided by Mr Williams to
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Concerns voiced on Storm flooding fears voiced over hospital fiscal ‘cherry-picking’ By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A WELL-KNOWN banker is challenging why the Government appears to be “cherry picking” certain assets and accounting treatmaents in the last-minute revisions to its 2024-2025 spending and deficit numbers. Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune Business that the Davis administration had not provided a “significantly fulsome explanation” for why The Bahamas’ investment in the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) alone was deemed worthy of being shifted from an ‘expense’ to a below-theline ‘investment’. Questioning the “uniqueness” of this outlay, and why other assets were not subjected to similarly revised accounting treatments, he added that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would have advised the Government to switch to full accrual-based accounting as opposed to using this method “piecemeal”. Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, last week said the IMF had supported the Government reclassifying the $25m CAF investment it made in November 2024 from an ‘expense’ to an
HOMEOWNERS and residents last night argued that recent flooding from Tropical Storm Imelda shows why Perpall Tract is not a suitable location for New Providence’s new $285.25m hospital. Persons from surrounding communities also raised GOWON BOWE ‘investment’. This enabled the Davis administration to remove this sum, which accounted for the majority of the $37.3m eliminated from its year-end spending and deficit figures, off its balance sheet. Mr Bowe, though, argued that The Bahamas “must be very careful” that, as a sovereign nation, it is not giving the impression that the Washington DC-based fund is “dictating” its fiscal accounting treatments. And he also queried why the IMF’s advice is now being treated as “Gospel” by the Government when, in the recent past, the two have disagreed over The Bahamas’ economic growth and fiscal forecasts. “There are many expenditures by the Government that could ‘qualify’ as an investment,” the Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief
ACCOUNTING - See Page B6
concerns about noise and traffic pollution at last night’s Town Planning Committee public consultation. The hospital is targeted for a 50-acre site on New Providence Highway in an area between the six-legged roundabout and the Saunders Beach roundabout. Many attendees recalled issues with flooding following tropical storm which left many homes inundated
Provider’s $7m investment gives Eleuthera first hospital By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN healthcare provider yesterday said its $7m investment has transformed the Eleuthera Medical Centre into the island’s first hospital with operations due to start today. Dr Arlington Lightbourne, the founder and chief executive of Bahamas Wellness Health System, said the Palmetto Pointbased Eleuthera Wellness Hospital, a five-bed facility that will provide ground and air ambulances, 96-Slice CT scan, a hemo-dialysis unit and diagnostic services, has met Joint Commission International (JCI) standards - “the global benchmark for
hospital quality and patient safety”. Through partnerships with regional and international healthcare leaders, he added that the facility will ensure its systems, training and patient outcomes meet world class standards. Care will be affordable and accessible through the Diamond Care medical plan. “Our full suite of services, including installation of our 96-Slice CT scan, will be rolled out over the coming weeks as we prepare for our grand celebration on November 28, 2025, where we would welcome Eleutherans, alongside national and international stakeholders, to celebrate this achievement together,” Dr Lightbourne said.
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with water. Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness, though, clarified that the project would not be in the specific area of the wellfields and its buildings would be located on higher ground some seven to 14 feet above sea levels. However, Barbara Hepburn, president of the Grove West Homeowners Association, argued that
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DR MICHAEL DARVILLE