Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) employees did not receive voluntary separation package offers as promised yesterday, as management at the company and executives in BTC unions were yesterday still trying to settle on what would be offered to whom.
Offers were initially supposed to be sent out on Monday.
However, BTC chief executive officer Geoff Houston said the company was still collating data on pension benefits owed to employees.
The Guardian understands that BTC human resource officials and union leaders were locked in meetings at the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) hall most of the day yesterday trying to finalize what would be offered to employees.
The plan was for employees to decide within 30 days if they wish to accept the offers. But BCPOU president Bernard Evans told The Guardian yesterday that the unions were trying to negotiate a longer period for workers to make up their minds.
"We hope by the end of a month-and-a-half or two months, those people who would really be looking at this package, would have been in the right frame of mind and would have done a thorough process," he said.
"It's such a tough decision and the longer you have had to weigh your options you would have made the right decision. You don't want to rush into it."
He added that the unions would guide employees through every step of the process.
"After everybody would have received these individual letters, we would convene a general membership meeting to listen to the overall concerns," Evans said.
"We will meet with each person individually to find out what are their options (and) to guide them as best we can through the professional services that will be provided."
Given the complexity of the issues involved, Evans said he believes that September will be the earliest period during which any permanent employees leave BTC.
Houston, who was a guest on the show 'Jeffrey' on Star 106.5 FM on Monday, said the process could take some time to roll out after the accept/decline deadline one month from now.  He said the redistribution of people within the company would have to happen simultaneously. He also insisted that there will be no layoffs within the company "right now."
Houston said that if the number of individuals BTC officials are hoping will accept the voluntary packages is not reached, they would have to look at other operational efficiencies to streamline the company.
While he would not say what percentage of the staff they are hoping would accept the offers, he said they have benchmarked the figure against similar telecommunication environments.  The number that has typically been thrown around is 30 percent.

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