The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

HOTEL union officials yesterday said they were still instructing laid-off Wyndham employees not to accept separation packages, adding that they were hoping for further word from Prime Minister Perry Christie on the matter.

Bahamas Hotel Catering & Allied Workers Union vice-president, Darren Woods, told Tribune Business: “We haven’t heard from the Prime Minister as yet. We’re still hoping to hear from him hopefully this week.

“He was supposed to reach out to Mr Izmirlian [Baha Mar’s principal] and get back to us. Our position is the same. The matter was not properly handled. We were not contacted. We are still telling the employees not to accept any compensation packages.”

The 130 lay-offs, which were in line with the Wyndham’s 25-30 per cent room inventory reduction, were designed to reduce the resort’s losses and work towards a ‘break even’ financial position, according to Baha Mar senior vice-president of governmental and external affairs, Robert Sands.

He told Tribune Business that the resort has “consistently been unable to generate positive income for many years”.

Mr Sands said that while Baha Mar regretted the decision to lay-off staff, the redundancies would still leave the Wyndham with 350 employees - a level above industry norms with regard to the employee per room ratio.

Mr Sands said that in addition to being faced with a challenged business climate, there were also a large number of Wyndham employees who were underperforming. He added that construction on the Baha Mar project has also affected the Wyndham’s ability to generate business.