Now that the long-delayed signing is history, executives of the Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association – which is headed by Trade Union Congress President Obie Ferguson – are refuelling efforts to have similar agreements signed.
According to Mr. Ferguson, the BHMA already has completed agreements or is in the process of negotiating agreements at properties including the Wyndham Nassau Resort, the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, the British Colonial Hilton Hotel and Comfort Suites.
Mr. Ferguson said Monday that the rights of workers must supersede the fears some investors may have in unionising managers.
The Radisson contract had been on hold for about seven years and also faced recent delays after the hotel’s management company head, George Myers, raised legal concerns regarding the agreement.
But after an alleged sickout by the managers and supervisors at the property and further warnings that serious industrial unrest was looming, Hotel Corporation and BHMA executives signed off on a two-year industrial agreement for the workers.
Mr. Ferguson said industrial contracts for managers and supervisors are “necessary”.
“Take George Myers for example,” he said. “He is the principal employee in the Radisson. He has a contract. So I don’t think it is unreasonable for managerial workers and supervisory workers to have a contract.
“His contract says he gets ‘x’ amount, in this case four percent of the gross operation profit and 10 percent of the gross operating income, so he averages out on a monthly basis on one of those limbs, about $80,000 per month. So workers should have a contract [too].”
With the Radisson signing finally passed, the BHMA is placing the focus on other properties.
Mr. Ferguson said Monday that the Association has completed industrial agreements with the Wyndham Nassau Resort on Cable Beach and Comfort Suites on Paradise Island and is in the process of negotiating an agreement with the British Colonial Hilton Hotel.
Documents at the Department of Labour confirm that the Association is the official bargaining agent for managers at Comfort Suites; the British Colonial; certain managerial and supervisory employees at the Nassau Marriott Resort – now the Wyndham; and managerial chefs and other supervisors at the Atlantis Resort.
“These hotels were of the view that they would wait until the government executes and after the government would have executed then they would in turn have executed the ones we have already negotiated,” Mr. Ferguson said.
He added, “[The Radisson signing] will have a significant impact in terms of giving these other employers some surety as to where we are going, where we would like to take the Bahamian workers and, more importantly, it would establish a foundation for training and efficiency within the industry.”
He said the BHMA supports training and education and productivity schemes ought to be in place to ensure that productivity is linked to compensation.
It is something Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Peet supports. During recent signings of industrial contracts, Minister Peet has said that such productivity clauses were important and ought to be included in all future agreements.
By Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
