BIU “Sets The Record Straight” On W&E Meeting

April 10, 2015

The Bermuda Industrial Union [BIU] said they wish to “set the record straight” with regards to the meeting that was held at BIU Headquarters on Wednesday [April 8] with their members who are employed by the Department of Works & Engineering.

The BIU said “the meeting had been scheduled by the management team at the Ministry of Works & Engineering for some time and therefore was not an emergency meeting; neither was the meeting ‘heated’ as described” in a media report.  They also said that while the BIU President was quoted in the article, Mr. Furbert was not in attendance at the meeting.

Brother Keith Bean, President of the Workers & Engineering Division of the BIU, said that the meeting had been planned for several months.

“We have had the topics of performance appraisals, outside employment and statements of employment on the agenda at our JCC meetings for at least six months,” said Brother Keith. “We were just waiting for a date and time that was convenient for all concerned to attend the meeting, including Works Engineering’s management team”.

The BIU said, “Also discussed at the meeting was the “Employee Self Service [ESS]” system [PDF] which will be used by all government workers. The Works & Engineering Division is the BIU largest division; hence there was no surprise at the number of workers who attended the meeting.”

“The meeting was indeed lively, but not heated, as our members had many questions for the managers of Works & Engineering,” concluded Brother Keith. “I was happy that so many of our members showed an interest in the topics that were discussed yesterday.”

BIU President Chris Furbert said that the Union “supports performance appraisals in principle as long as they are carried out correctly.”

“Performance appraisals are already being used by some of our social partners,” stated Mr. Furbert. “Added to that, the Union is having talks with other managers about instituting performance appraisals for their staff”

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Comments (13)

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  1. Raymond Ray says:

    Many are appreciative of this…
    “Performance appraisals are already being used by some of our social partners,” stated Mr. Furbert. “Added to that, the Union is having talks with other managers about instituting performance appraisals for their staff”

    Thanks for the “eye-opener”

  2. cuds says:

    Its about time. I left Gov.years ago to work in the private sector because I was the only one tackling the more complicated job tasks. Could you imagine how it felt to put myself through school to be paid less than a dollar more than your uncertified partners who only take on certain tasks?

  3. Tolerate says:

    Thank you Mr. Furbert; “supports performance appraisals in principle as long as they are carried out correctly.”
    These are very encouraging words.
    IMO

  4. bluebird says:

    WELL DONE!
    But we are still in DEBT the economy is still going down (or have I missed something?)
    Man this must be way above my pay-grade

  5. Rhonda says:

    Where are all the similar comments to yesterday…….

    • Double D says:

      What comments?

      This is the first Bernews article about this subject.

      The thing I find amazing is that this is finally being implemented while other areas of the civil service have been subject to appraisals for years while the private sector has done this for decades.

      This is how the real world operates. Welcome to it.

  6. Cow Polly says:

    One has to wonder why the Press were notified of this meeting in the first place as it was nothing more than a roll out of what amounts to best practices by Management. Perhaps the Union and its members just cannot function anymore without an audience?

    • LaVerne Furbert says:

      The Union did not inform the media that the meeting had been scheduled and I doubt if anyone in government informed them. Get your facts correct!!

      • Franklin jr says:

        who do you think informed then?

        Instead of your CONSTANT innuendo, half-truths, and veiled nonsense… why not just spit it out LaVerne??

        • LaVerne Furbert says:

          I have no idea who informed the media about the meeting. I do know that the reporter, was not in he meeting, although he was in the building.

  7. unus sed leo says:

    Set the record straight yourself…just be more informative at onset…there is no question…no wonder…we simply wern’t apprised offit pre eminantly.

  8. ChelseaFC says:

    Er, who cares? Just a bunch of people locked in 1975.