Excessive rain at Morton Bahamas Limited will see slightly more than 100 workers temporarily laid off next week, as salt production dries up at the company's Inagua operation, Guardian Business can confirm.
In a letter addressing government and union officials, Morton Bahamas managing director Glenn Banister issued a 10-day notice explaining the company had to scale back its operations and workforce until weather conditions improve.
"This was a very difficult decision because we all want to keep operations and employees up and running," said Bannister in a release yesterday. "But we've already seen more than 26 inches of rainfall in Inagua through the first seven months of the year, more than double the average rainfall for the January to July period over the past five years.
"Given this excessive rainfall, the company was forced to take short-term action in order to ensure the long-term viability of its Inagua operation." The layoffs will be effective as of August 8. The cut-back is expected to affect approximately two-thirds of the staff at the facility, or just around 113 bargaining unit employees, claim officials of the Bahamas Industrial Manufacturers and Allied Workers Union.
While Morton asserts it will retain the remaining employees to maintain and ship its inventory of previously harvested salt and to perform other necessary operations, union officials are asking for all staff at Morton to be affected by the layoffs and not only members of the union's bargaining unit.
"We consider this to be discrimination," said Jennifer Brown, secretary general of the BIM and AWU. "In December, they did the same thing and it was done in such a way that it created a problem."
Brown also questions the economic reasoning for the layoffs, arguing that the company was in a secure enough financial position to buy new trucks and equipment. The union is asking the company to instead consider a rotation basis of 56 persons working each week, or a three-day work week that could afford all employees the opportunity to have steady income. This should be done only after first trying to reduce costs, said the union.
While Morton said it intended to resume operations as soon as possible, the Inagua-based company said it will continue to closely monitor the weather conditions in Inagua to determine how quickly the salt ponds and production can be restored. "As a long-time member of the Inagua community, Morton is committed to its operation and employees," Bannister said.
"I am confident that we will get through this challenging time together, as we have done in the past." Currently, the operation relies on Inagua's typically arid weather conditions to produce salt by allowing saltwater in ponds to evaporate, which in turn stimulates the formation of salt crystals at the bottom of the pond. Excessive rain reverses the process and dissolves the salt crystals in the ponds, leaving the facility without product to harvest.
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