Industrial disharmony has spread to the Radisson Cable Beach Resort, triggered by legal maneuvers that continue to delay the signing of a contract for more than 200 middle managers and supervisors at the government-run hotel.
For the past seven years, the Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association has been trying to secure an industrial agreement for the workers, but has so far been unsuccessful.
The association, headed by Trade Union Congress President Obie Ferguson, thought it was home free, until the signing was put off twice in the past week.
The historic signing was set for last Wednesday night, but had to be delayed when George Myers, who leads the management team that runs the hotel for the government, raised a number of legal objections to certain provisions in the contract.
Those concerns are now before the Attorney General’s Office and are not expected to reach conclusion anytime this week as the ruling Progressive Liberal Party is in convention, a government minister told the Bahama Journal.
The delay has left workers peeved, with Mr. Ferguson warning that the association will no longer tolerate what he called “stalling tactics.”
The objections raised reached such a level that it required the intervention of at least six Cabinet ministers and the prime minister, who got involved via telephone while in St. Lucia last week attending a CARICOM meeting.
On Saturday night, there was a second attempt at signing the agreement. But that too fell through – even after a marathon meeting between the parties concerned that lasted late into the night.
Government officials then looked to today as a new possible date to get the agreement signed, but were also unable to meet that projection.
Mr. Myers was again unavailable today for comment and did not return media calls regarding the contract; neither did his attorneys.
But a government source intimately involved in the negotiations said Mr. Myers raised concerns about how the new industrial agreement would impact his contract to manage the hotel.
Mr. Ferguson, meanwhile, said the union will continue to press for the contract to be signed.
He said what Mr. Myers was doing amounted to “legal gymnastics.”
“When you underestimate the impact of people, that is when you start having a difficulty,” Mr. Ferguson said. “If [Mr. Myers] believes that he as an individual can raise legal gymnastics with a view of stalling the expressed will of the people, I think he would find himself wanting.”
He added, “That is what rejuvenates me and gives me the impetus to continue to do what I am doing, because it is the will of the people.”
A source close to the negotiations said the provisions are better than any others for supervisors and managers in the hotel sector.
Another source – a government official – intimated today that management unions may send “mixed signals” to investors, although that official said the government was moving to resolve the current situation involving the contract for the Radisson employees.
But Mr. Ferguson also implied that if the matter continues to drag on, it could get explosive.
With a number of industrial disputes coming to a head over the past week – at operations including Bahamasair, Atlantis, the National Insurance Board, the Department of Immigration in Grand Bahama and the Royal Oasis Resort – government officials are said to be working to prevent the Radisson situation from “getting out of hand.”
By Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
