City Market and the union representing the food store chain's employees announced yesterday that they have come to an agreement over how those workers will be handled as the company restructures its operations.
Members of the newly elected executive team of the Bahamas Commercial Stores Supermarket & Warehouse Workers Union (BCSS & WWU) met this week with officials of Bahamas Supermarkets Limited (BSL), which owns the City Market stores.
A joint press statement suggested that executive management is seeking to repair and re-open the South Beach and Sea Grape City Market locations that were recently closed and return their staff to regular working hours as soon as possible.
"Once the objective is achieved as far as our renovations are concerned we expect to absorb those transferred employees and return to a normal shift schedule," BSL President Mark Finlayson said in the press release.
City Market workers claimed recently that now that those two stores have been closed, they have been put on a six days per month schedule, which means they would make a mere $120 per month.
One employee's pay stubb seen by The Nassau Guardian during a recent protest by City Market workers reflects automatic deductions made by her bank, after which she took home just more than $2 for the month.
The staff members who gathered outside the front doors of the Harbour Bay location all agreed that they simply want to be separated from City Market and given their severance pay.
However, BCSS & WWU President Warfield Bain insisted that BSL has not breached the company's industrial agreement with regard to staff's current working hours and the company does not want to let any of its staff go.
"The meeting with Mr. Finlayson, his executive team and counsel cleared the air on a number of matters including recent staff concerns." Bain said.
"Tensions are high and maybe they (City Market employees) are heated because of all the other things that are going on also with other companies, but after we sat down with Mr. Finlayson, we assured him that the union will work with the company to save as many jobs as possible.
"We understand that these are hard times and City Market has been challenged for a number of years.  In fact, Mr. Finlayson made it clear that he does not want to let anyone go."
Finlayson suggested in the release that part-time employees have been working on a week-by-week schedule, which he said is being done in other companies including several resorts across the country.
He said September and October are slow months.
The disgruntled City Market workers have also had concerns about the state of their pension fund, which is in the process of being audited.
Finlayson said when the audit is done the employees will know what the state of their pension fund is.
"There will be full disclosure and the chips will fall where they may," Finlayson said.  "My hands are clean."
In addition to closing its South Beach and Sea Grapes stores in New Providence for renovations, the company has also closed its downtown Freeport and Eight Mile Rock stores in Grand Bahama permanently.
The Lucaya store is the only remaining City Market store on Grand Bahama and plans are being drafted to convert the store to 24-hour shopping, according to officials.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian