Officials at eleven hotel properties across the island were on Friday bracing for a possible island-wide strike even though both sides returned to the negotiating table after Labour and Immigration Minister Vincent Peet issued an executive order requiring them to continue talks.
Investors of those resorts, meanwhile, were fearful that a strike would cripple their operations at a time when many of them are trying to bounce back from traditionally slow tourism months.
On Thursday, more than 1,000 workers voted for a strike, and five voted against the action, according to unofficial results. The workers could go on strike any day now as the 30-day period since the trade dispute was filed at the Department of Labour has expired.
The strike vote came days after talks for a new industrial agreement collapsed. The agreement would affect about 6,000 workers at the eleven properties.
Hotel Association President Jeremy MacVean indicated that a strike would be disastrous.
“I do hope that good sense and calmness prevails in advance to hopefully restore any adverse events taking place,” Mr. MacVean said. “This industry just having coming out of the last two to three months of what was a downturn in the industry and with a number of economies around the world still in a difficult straight, this could certainly be sending a bad message if there is a strike.”
President of the Bahamas Hotel Employers Association J. Barrie Farrington, meanwhile, said Friday that he was still not prepared to comment on the vote.
But on Tuesday, he said, “If they should move ahead with a strike vote we think that this would not be in the best interest of the industry and we also think if they should proceed to a strike it would be a fundamental error in judgment that would bring further economic hardship on those employees in whose name such a vote or action would be initiated.”
On Friday, General Secretary of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union Leo Douglas said the union is prepared for action, even though it is not enthused about what a strike could do to the country’s number one industry.
“It is now official and if the union chooses to take action it can,” Mr. Douglas said.
But he added, “We’re not blood thirsty for a strike. We are here to think of our country and we are responsible. If we can get an agreement today, you will find everything is settled and we can move along.”
Mr. Douglas also indicated that the strike may be called at a single property and not necessarily at all the properties simultaneously.
Two weeks ago, some employees of the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort staged a demonstration demanding that the agreement be concluded. Atlantis executives have been working to avert possible industrial action at the property which is undergoing a $600 million expansion.
Union President Pat Bain said at a press conference Thursday that the hotel employers were obstinate at the bargaining table.
“The Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union is certainly not happy with the offer made by the Employers Association,” Mr. Bain said. “They remain defiantly reluctant to improve the benefits for the bargaining unit.”
He added, “We also wish for the public to know that these are the very same employees who are called upon by management day after day to go beyond the call of duty in services to our guests yet management does not find them worthy for better working conditions or increases in benefits. We in the hotel union believe in the working philosophy that a labourer should be worthy of his hire.”
He said what the union sought for its membership were basic salary increases and improved benefits.
“Considering the realities of the present economic conditions we face as a country, our requests at the bargaining table were certainly not unreasonable, as some would have the public believe,” Mr. Bain said.
He continued, “Throughout this entire episode the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union has been most responsible, patient and relentless in its efforts to conclude negotiations with management. However, we also assured the Employers Association and the general public that we were prepared to do whatever it would take in order to obtain an industrial contract because we know what we seek is not unreasonable.”
Yvette Rolle -Major, The Bahama Journal
