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Dear Sir,

The walkout by BELCO staff reported in the daily last week raises an important issue for our community. Are there policies that a company can undertake, to try and become more efficient and profitable, that don’t cause hardship for the staff that become displaced? The outsourcing of BELCO’s cleaning work to an independent contractor can, if handled correctly, be a win-win proposition for all parties.

I have always been a strong proponent of developing opportunities for small businesses and in my opinion the Board and Management at BELCO ought to first offer the cleaning staff at BELCO an opportunity to start their own cleaning business and in return offer them the cleaning contract at BELCO for a certain period of time.

Alternatively, if the staff do not wish to pursue such an opportunity, then BELCO ought to ensure that the new cleaning contractor selected to do the work be required to take on the BELCO staff.

The above solutions help Bermuda in a number of ways. If the first solution is adopted, the new owners become entrepreneurs and economic opportunity is created to people who may not have had such an opportunity before. If the second solution is adopted the staff affected by the outsourcing remain employed.

Also, their new employment could eventually reduce the imported manpower that is frequently used in the cleaning industry. Government and the Unions could also assist in providing initial start-up capital to those workers who choose the entrepreneurial solution in the example above.

Your article also noted that BELCO was considering outsourcing the garage mechanic work and I would suggest the same solution(s) above be adopted for this department.

Allan D. Marshall

Smiths Parish[[In-content Ad]]

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