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BAHA MAR WORKERS ON THE MARCH
Hundreds of Baha Mar workers march in support of the $3.5bn project's developer Sarkis Izmirlian. Photos/Shawn Hanna
By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
HUNDREDS of Baha Mar employees yesterday took to the streets to proclaim their support for the man that gave them a chance in a dismal job market.
Clad in the brand's logo and blue colours, workers marched from Goodmans Bay to the mega-resort's parking lot chanting their affection for the $3.5bn project's developer Sarkis Izmirlian.
The demonstration follows reports that the government has stepped in to pay salaries for this month, citing concerns that workers were being used as “pawns” in the resort’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy claim.
"Mr Izmirlian has always been there for us," said a line worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "He gave us a chance. There is a lot of problems going on now with the property but we here for him."
Workers chanted "we love you Sarkis" as they walked along West Bay Street.
Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson confirmed on Thursday that the government will pay the salaries of more than 2,000 Baha Mar workers this month as negotiations over the fate of the stalled $3.5bn project continue.
The decision was backed by a Supreme Court order that has adjourned Baha Mar's application for local judicial recognition of its Chapter 11 filing in a US bankruptcy court until Tuesday.
Mrs Maynard-Gibson said the decision to circumvent the Bahamian court system and file for Chapter 11 in a United States court without notice to major stakeholders opened the door for “serious and far-reaching implications” to the country’s sovereignty.
However, the Attorney General would not detail those implications or say whether the government was prepared to continue paying salaries if a resolution could not be met before the next pay period.
She also could not speak to the fate of Baha Mar’s Bahamian creditors, who are collectively owed an estimated $123m.
She said the Hotel Corporation of the Bahamas is ready to pay the full salaries of Baha Mar’s employees; however it is unclear if the government will also pay the salaries for the resort’s foreign workers.
Yesterday, demonstration spokesman Nick Lockhart said: "We are here today in support of Sarkis Izmirlian and the Baha Mar brand. We are not here to talk about the bankruptcy and all of that. We are here to show our support for the man who gave us a chance.
"We are not here to talk about the government and all of that. Our goal here today is to send the message that we the employees at Baha Mar are standing with Sarkis Izmirlian."
Paul Turnquest, the resort's director of Public Relations, said the demonstration reflected the "true value of Baha Mar culture".
"We are very touched and appreciative of the support we are receiving from our employees," he said.
"It's at trying times like these when the true value of Baha Mar's culture shows itself. We are doing all we realistically can to to make sure Baha Mar is in a position to be completed and open as the premier international destination resort. We all understand that a successful Baha Mar is of vital economic importance to this community and to The Bahamas."
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 5 months ago
Christie and his fellow PLP cabinet members have always suffered from a most horribly flawed line of self-serving thinking: They truly believe they are the political elite and as such it is their privilege to convince the Bahamian people that they, and only they alone, know what's in the best interest of the Bahamian people. This very flawed and condescending "Moses complex" typically afflicts political animals like Christie who are very much predisposed to self-infatuation and delusional thinking. Maynard-Gibson aka Wicked Witch of the West is similarly afflicted, but with a much more evil bent routed in the nepotism that launched her life in politics. Thankfully Bahamian people like the Baha Mar employees are waking up to the fact that most members of the PLP cabinet, Christie and Maynard-Gibson in particular, are only ever interested in their own selfish short-term political survival needs and do not give a damn about the long-term needs of the Bahamian people. Increasing numbers of Bahamians now appreciate that their long-term interests (and the longer-term interests of their children and their children's children) can only be best served by a caring government whose social and economic policies create well-paying productive jobs for skilled Bahamians equipped with more than a D- public education. The old political dinosaurs in the PLP, like Christie and Maynard-Gibson, have demonstrated time and time again that their political careers and interests are all about the enrichment of themselves and their political friends and business cronies at the expense of the Bahamian people, in particular the honest, hardworking Bahamian taxpayers. The sooner politicians like Christie and Maynard-Gibson are made to account for all of the hardships they have inflicted on the Bahamian people, the better!
Reality_Check 9 years, 5 months ago
The "Moses complex" suffered by Christie has contributed to his even more severe "Robin Hood complex". Both Christie and Maynard-Gibson truly believe they have the absolute right and privilege to take whatever they want from "Bahamian Peter" to pay "Bahamian Paul" while at the same time granting enormous concessions to super wealthy China controlled enterprises in exchange for "favours" and other "goodies" that only benefit themselves and their select elite group of political friends and business cronies.
TalRussell 9 years, 5 months ago
March On Comrades!!
TalRussell 9 years, 5 months ago
http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2015…
SP 9 years, 5 months ago
...... The Electorate Voted The Head Witch Out, Christie Double Crossed Them ......
PM Perry Christie's governance was doomed to failure the minute he defied the electorates will by double crossing them and placing widely despised Head Witch Maynard in the AG position.
It was the first of many outright degrading slaps in the peoples faces and double cross's Christie would have to pull while trying to keep numerous skeletons silenced and locked away in closets.
Head Witch Maynard obviously have some very seriously damming goods on PM Christie to demand such a high PLP post after being kicked out of office by the electorate.
The people ridded themselves of Head Witch Maynard due to a total lack of confidence and trust.
PM Christie stupidly abandoned his "charter for governance manifesto" that got him elected, turned his back on Bahamians and fell hook line and sinker for a tall flask of the Witches Brew of greed, deceit and corruption.
Look where PM Christie finds himself now.....The very electorate he swindled into the palm of his hands, now rather trust a total stranger!
duppyVAT 9 years, 5 months ago
I suggest sending all of those Bahamar workers to the Philippines for Good Friday ...... BOL
duppyVAT 9 years, 5 months ago
BTW .......... Bahamar needs to put their workers on a weight-loss program
Publius 9 years, 5 months ago
70 to 80 percent of the entire country's adult population is either overweight or obese. Quit the pettiness. Since when is your employer responsible for your personal lifestyle habits as it pertains to diet and exercise? Post your picture and medical records to show us your lean body mass and what a clean bill of health you have.
Sickened 9 years, 5 months ago
I'm with you Dippy! Bahamians need to stop being proud of their super large sizes. In Africa it is a sign of wealth/success because you have the ability to get lots of food. In most other societies it is disgusting. It shows that you have NO self control and are unable to resist temptation.
Bahamianpride 9 years, 5 months ago
Go into any supermarket in Nassau and look at the prices for healthy food items. All the processes unhealthy sweets, cookies, cakes, lab made items are more affordable and all the healthy lean meats, vegetable, grain breads cost a fortune. Look at the price of McDonald's burger king pizza hut etc vs establishment selling healthy food items. Not to mention side vendors selling greasy fritters, fried chicken, crack counch with fries. Now invision more technology, price inflation and increased crime that keeps people inside from walking around getting excercise and stressed out. Add in that many of our people are ignorant or just ignore nutrition, and proper medical care. It's sad but until we wake up and start growing more of the healthy food we need making it more affordable the obesity will only get worse.
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 5 months ago
Right you are! Our government has very deliberately implemented devious and hideous import duty policies aimed at keeping the Bahamian people unhealthy, weak and vulnerable. The political elite and their business cronies who drink heavily from the trough of taxes paid by honest, hardworking taxpayers are the only ones who can afford the outrageously high duties that they themselves are responsible for having levied on both nutritional foods (fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.) and medicines and medical supplies. When their time comes, you can be rest assured that the souls of Christie, Halkitis, Maynard-Gibson, and so on, will burn in hell for all eternity for all the misery they have very deliberately inflicted for political self-gain on so many Bahamians. Satan loves fellow demons and looks forward to greeting Christie, Maynard-Gibson and their equally despicable elitist group of evil political friends and business cronies!
Reality_Check 9 years, 5 months ago
It's the very same reason the Christie-led PLP government implemented VAT, one of the most regressive taxes that can be imposed on a society like ours which already has a relatively great number of poor people. Both the PLP and FNM have always implemented social and economic policies aimed at keeping the vast majority of Bahamians poor and uneducated so that they are most vulnerable to the "vote buying" style of politics introduced by Pindling and taken to a whole new level by both Ingraham and Christie.
Zags 9 years, 5 months ago
I hope that the Government of The Bahamas makes the right decision by allowing Mr. Izmirlian and his attorneys to proceed under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face is senseles...
Go Baha Mar!!!
Franklyn 9 years, 5 months ago
Baha Mar Ltd. owes Bahamian creditors about $123,000,000.00. OK! that millions - for those that don't know, don't care to know or just so stupid that they don't understand the meaning of chapter 11 protection. Under chapter 11 Baha Mar Ltd don't have to pay any BILLS that it has outstanding (like my $56,000.00 bill that I have tried to have settle over the past 3 months; only to be turned around and lied to). Chapter 11 protection means Baha Mar can continue its big party in the Bahamas until it declares itself profitable and that's after repaying the Billions of Dollars it borrowed from the Chinese Government and that could run into 10 - 15 years or more.
That's if Sarkis Izmirlian and his family don't decides to jump ship and leave the Bahamas and its many creditor that trusted these guys and it wouldn't be the first time that this has happened in the Bahamas.
What is important to understand and what Sarkis Izmirlian and Baha Mar should consider is "you can't hide behind US protection laws while in The Bahamas with a big ass building sitting in the open and then tell Bahamians you are not going to pay them" trust me, that will not happen.
I want my money and I want it now!
stislez 9 years, 5 months ago
We still marching..........................jah know a march don't solve no problem. People been marching from time, maybe its time to change your approach Jed. On top of that we marching over something that's not ours in reality doe. We have a culture of dependence, we arent self sustainable as a people ourselves so we look to others to provide for us. Cold hard fact is, the only true independence comes from the lord, which is the earth we were given. Food, clothes and shelter is all we need, no government, no slave job working in the hotel industry for white men who could care less about us as a people an so on. We need to look at empowering ourselves and our people and the only way that can be done is obtaining knowledge, knowledge about us as humans, knowledge about this earth, the seasons, the food from the ground, knowledge about making natural medicine from the plants, knowledge of love, vibration, thought, feeling, emotion, anger, energy etc. My humble opinion is that we know ourselves.
SP 9 years, 5 months ago
............................... Christie, Izmirlian And The Obvious End Game .............................
The electorate was already sick and tired of Christies' PLP blatant corruption and stupidity. The decision to vote the pirates out in 2017 was a foregone conclusion prior to this situation.
Dumbo Perry Christie has succeeded in pissing off Sarkis Izmirlian and his whole nation which translates into NO CHANCE IN HELL for Dumbo Christie to win the next election no matter how much Chinese money he throws around.
Christies' attempt at double crossing Sarkis Izmirlian is the icing on the cake that will bury Christie so deep he won't need a casket.
Christie is a dead man walking to his political grave in 2017 and there is absolutely nothing he can do to avert his political demise.
Jackass dies as Jackass lived!
TalRussell 9 years, 5 months ago
http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2015…
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