The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce’s (BCCEC) chief executive has warned against vilifying foreign investors given this nation’s “shameful” ‘ease of business’ rankings, warning that “it benefits no one to do so”.

Edison Sumner called for Bahamians to take a “balanced approach” over the Sandals matter, acknowledging concerns over the resort chain’s decision to close its Royal Bahamian property and terminate the 600 staff.

“It’s unfortunate what we are seeing happening now. The Chamber is always concerned when we see persons becoming displaced from their places of employment. These are always vey serious concerns to us,” Mr Sumner said.

“When you look at the number of people made redundant that is also concerning. It is important for us to understand the genesis behind this move and what were the intentions of the employer when they made the decision.”

He added: “It is our understanding that most of the individuals who were displaced will be invited to return through a job placement process. If that happens it means that those employes would have had a windfall and they will be back on the job in two months or so, and that may be a benefit to them as opposed to them going through furloughs or direct terminations without a chance of being rehired.”

Former Sandals Royal Bahamian employees are effectively having to reapply for their positions at a four-day job fair, which starts today. While the first two days have been reserved for the 600 laid-off staff only, the final two will see ‘outsiders’ apply for posts at the resort.

This has prompted “suspicions” among politicians and trade unionists that Sandals does not intend to re-hire all former 600 staff, and that it may be engaged in ‘union busting’ given recent actions by the Bahamas Hotel, Maintenance and Allied Workers Union (see articles on Page 2B and 3B).

Meanwhile, Mr Sumner called for cool heads to prevail on all sides involved with the labour situation at Sandals Royal Bahamian.

“There has to be a balanced approach to this,” he urged. “We understand the plight of the workers even though we represent the employers. Without employees there can be no employers. There has to be a partnership and mutual respect between the employer and employees.

“It concerns us, however, when people in leadership get into the public domain and start hurling insults at foreign investors who are helping us build our economy. We are not going to give any investor a feee pass to come in and do as they please because they also have to operate in a way that is consistent with our culture, goals and objectives to grow our economy.”

Mr Sumner continued: “We realise that in this case there appeared to have been a lack of communication between the employer and the employees, and the employer and the Government.

“I think if we are able to improve the level of communication, we might find that these processes might go a bit smoother if there is an understanding of what the intentions were when the employer made the decision.

“In this instance, the fact is that this particular investor has made it very clear that they intend to rehire persons who were disengaged. If that does not happen, even the Chamber will take grave issues with it,” the Chamber chief executive added.

“We’re not going to say that foreign developers have a free pass. They have to be responsible, live up to their obligations and ensure that Bahamians are not being mistreated. There has to be a balanced approach. We empathise with those who lost their jobs, but there must always be balance to these discussions about how things are happening, and it does not benefit any of us when we get into the public domain and hurl insults at foreign investors and castigate them publicly.”

Mr Sumner said the National Tripartite Council, featuring government, private sector and union representatives, was established to deal with issues such as those raised by the Sandals Royal Bahamian situation.

He argued, though, that the parties were not making full use of the Council.

“The Chamber is open to having a review of the redundancy clauses again, this time with the view of ensuring that employers provide adequate notice to their employees and others when redundancies are planned,” said Mr Sumner.

Sandals on Monday outlined a $4 million renovation that will be undertaken during the two-month closure of its Cable Beach property, saying the work was being “fast tracked” for what was shaping up to be its best winter season ever.