Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) President Stephano Greene said the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) needs to hire another 300 people in order for it to run efficiently.
His statement is in direct contradiction to that of former BEC Chairman Michael Moss, who said on Sunday that BEC needs to shave down its employment numbers.
"In New Providence, when I was first employed at BEC, we had some 1,200 employees, now we have [more than] 980 employees and [the employees who are gone] need to be replaced," Greene told The Nassau Guardian. "We are understaffed at BEC and it's shown by the amount of time that is needed to be put in by staffers. The amount of overtime is directly proportional to the lack of staff."
However, Moss has an opposite view.
"While BEC's staffing complement had reduced significantly from a peak of around 1,600 several years ago to just over 1,000 at the time I demitted office, in my view, except for a few areas where minor under-staffing might exist, BEC remains over-staffed," Moss said in a statement Sunday. "The organization needs to be rid of unproductive individuals."
But Greene said any move to cut down the employee pool is not wise.
"I don't think it's realistic," Greene said. "The reduction of staff at BEC would cause more problems at BEC. Right now, in our humble opinion, we are grossly understaffed. What the public doesn't realize is that international standards say that one person should not be in a sub station in high power areas [for long periods of time]. And we have that in all of the Family Islands. That's called under-staffing. The union hasn't raised it as a major issue because we know that none of the Family Islands are profitable to BEC. And so if we can argue the point that we need more staff in the Family Islands in particular, that would cost BEC more."
BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller said last week that BEC intends to implement a shift system as of March 1 in an effort to cut down on the overtime bill.
He suggested that if BEC could not reduce its expenses layoffs were possible.
Miller previously said the shift system would be introduced on February 1 to save the struggling corporation millions of dollars in excessive overtime. However, the date was pushed back as management attempts to get BEC's unions on board.
Greene said the union is willing to meet with BEC's board to further discuss the plans for the shift system.

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