Weekend Report | The Freeport News | PDF Online Guide

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Home National Sports Business Lifestyles Religion Arts & Culture Pulse Spice Editorial letters Opinion Foodie Sportscope Real Talks Weekend Report PDF's Classifieds Contact About Us Archive Weather

Letters | Opinion | Editorial | Weekend Report
FOODIE SPORTS SCOPE REAL TALKS
Still no resolution to nurses dispute By KRYSTEL ROLLE ~ Guardian Staff Reporter krystel@nasguard.com: The government and the Bahamas Nurses Union were unable to resolve its dispute over health insurance benefits for nurses yesterday, according to the union's attorney Obie Ferguson. The government's proposal remains unchanged, Ferguson said. BNU executives, led by vice-president Jannah Khalfani, were locked in a meeting with Director of Labour Harcourt Brown, and Managing Director of the Public Hospitals Authority Herbert Brown for over an hour on Wednesday, but left without reaching an amicable agreement. "Nothing happened. The meeting was adjourned until further notice. We are negotiating and we agreed to look at the proposals again and hopefully we'll come to an agreement that's livable to both sides," Ferguson told The Nassau Guardian shortly after the meeting concluded. Minister of Health Dr. Hubert Minnis, who was not a part of yesterday's meeting, said the government was dealing with the matter as best it could. He said he hoped for a speedy conclusion. The union has been at odds with the government for more than three weeks, after it was announced by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham that the government could not afford health insurance for nurses because of the depressed economic conditions. During the initial meeting last Wednesday — between BNU, Dr. Minnis and Labour and Social Development Minister Dion Foulkes — Minnis said the government put several proposals on the table. The first was that the health insurance plan and the four percent salary increase nurses are also due would be offered on July 1, 2010. Additionally, three private beds in private rooms would be available for nurses to be treated in at the Princess Margaret Hospital. The second proposal included the private rooms with private care for the nurses. It also included full coverage at PMH for job-related illnesses. Dr. Minnis said that if treatment at PMH was not available for these illnesses, the government would cover the full treatment in the private sector or abroad. This proposal would have been in place until the insurance came into effect on July 1, 2010. Minnis added that there was a possibility that the insurance coverage could be available before July 2010 based on the country's economic stability. However, during her counter proposal, BNU president Cleola Hamilton said last Wednesday that the union wanted the health plan now and the four percent salary increase by July 1, 2010. Hamilton said that the union would present a second proposal, but it is unknown if that proposal was made during yesterday's meeting, which Hamilton did not attend. Last month, Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall issued an injunction that ordered all striking nurses back to work. That injunction remains in place. However, most nurses began returning to work almost immediately. It was discovered last month that the contracts the BNU signed with the Public Hospitals Authority and the Ministry of Health were not legally binding, as they were never registered with the Industrial Tribunal. However, BNU's legal counsel Obie Ferguson pointed out recently that the government still has a legal employer/employee obligation to individual members of the BNU to provide them with what the terms of the contracts specify. He also claimed that several other industrial contracts were not registered with the Industrial Tribunal. The government has said that it will honor the contracts signed with the PHA and Ministry of Health. Thursday, July 2, 2009