Nassau Airport Development Co (NAD) and Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU) officials signed a five-year industrial agreement impacting nearly 200 employees at the airport management company.

Vernice Walkine, NAD president and chief executive officer, says that the new industrial agreement reached with BPSU allows NAD to continue to retain productive employees committed to making Lynden Pindling International Airport one of the best such facilities in the region.

“We’re pleased to have concluded the negotiations,” she says. “The new agreement outlines favorable terms for NAD employees, while taking into consideration the tough economic times in which we now find ourselves operating.”

“I’d like to thank our executive team headed by HR director Sian Bevans for working with the union representatives in the best interest of NAD and our employees. I’d also like to thank John Pinder, president of BPSU, and his team for their committed efforts in this exercise.”

Pinder has termed the agreement “very fair, very progressive, and an example that we would wish for all employers to emulate.”

The new agreement preserves NAD’s high performance evaluation system, rewarding well performing employees with higher wage increases.

Final negotiations also include a signing bonus paid to employees in two installments, increase in shift premiums, increase in travel allowances and a cost of living adjustment on an annual basis for employees at their maximum salary band.

The five-year term agreement expires on December 31, 2016.