The implementation of a new system for tracking work attendance at the Radisson Cable Beach is “bound to create confrontation” at the hotel, if members of the Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association do not get answers, that union’s chief said.
BHMA President Obie Ferguson is objecting to the new system because he says the system may be illegally taking peopleﾒs fingerprints. The same system, however, has reportedly been in place ad operational at the Wyndham and the Nassau Beach Hotels for weeks, with no apparent difficulty.
Mr. Ferguson claims that no one has been able to sufficiently explain the workings of the system to the union. Until that happens, he says, the BHMA “cannot intelligently advise the workers at the Radisson to participate in the process.”
“The response from the hotel has been that they are going (to implement the system), no matter what ﾖ thatﾒs the position that we have gotten. That is bound to create confrontation at that hotel ﾖ something we were trying to avoid,” Mr. Ferguson said.
“Because we think we have a right to know. They had a meeting set up at some date, and obviously the meeting was not convenient for all parties, but still we need to have somebody who could properly explain to us what is happening with this biometric equipment.”
Hotel executive Robert Sands told the Journal that the Radisson has been working its way through a number of training sessions and meetings with executives from unions representing both management and line staff at the Radisson.
“Weﾒve also brought in a senior police officer, a forensic (specialist), to (address) concerns from our associates that this was a finger-printing and also a DNA receptor-type system, which have been totally refuted,” Mr. Sands insisted.
“This time and attendance system simply involves finger geometry. Itﾒs the state-of-the-art biometric system on the market today.”
The system is called the Series 2102 Biometric Time Data Terminal, or “Time Trak.”
Detective Sergeant Rodney Barnes is the police officer that gave a presentation on Time Trak to employees at the Radisson last week, and explained that the system does not in fact take fingerprints.
“This biometric time and attendance terminal uses an employees fingers (the size and shape) for secure transaction verification,” Sgt. Barnes said, while giving the employees a PowerPoint presentation.
According to Sgt. Barnes, the Time Trak system takes and stores a detailed, three-dimensional image of two fingers at enrollment, and that image is referred to every time the employee uses the system.
Sgt. Barnes told the employees that this method of biometric attendance tracking has the highest level of accuracy of all the available biometric systems, including fingerprinting and optical scanning, and the greatest ease of use.
In fact, Sgt. Barnes said that Sandals had installed a similar system at its properties last year.
Mr. Ferguson said that he would expect any explanation of this system to be given by a representative of the manufacturer. He wants to know where the information will be stored and for how long, why it is being stored and who will have access to it.
He also said the hotel is insisting that unless employees make use of a biometric time and attendance clock, they will not be paid.
Addressing that concern, Mr. Sands said “the reality is that this is the system under which we will be eventually paying our associates. At the end of the day thatﾒs the finish line that we wish to get to.”
“We are still working our way to that finish line,” he added.
“This is not something that we want to ram down the throats of our associates, and we want them to be comfortable and satisfied. Thatﾒs why weﾒve been taking the painstaking approach of training, brining in the expertiseﾅand also individual meetings with the unionﾅto support our approach in the implementation of this program,” he explained.
According to Mr. Sands, a biometric time and attendance system is already in use at other hotels in New Providence.
Mr. Sands reiterated that the hotel had been communicating with both unions about the system, and that there was representation both at the management and line staff level among the workers about the system.
“We have countless bits of information on this, and if Mr. Ferguson today is not satisfied (that we have provided him) all the information, we would be certainly happy to provide it again,” he said.
Mr. Ferguson asserted his support for the other attendance and time systems in place at the hotel, and showing up to work on time.
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
