The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

and By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

The hotel union yesterday accused the One & Only Ocean Club of blindsiding and misleading it over yesterday’s move to terminate 61 staff from the high-end Paradise Island resort.

Darren Woods, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union’s (BHCAWU) general secretary, told Tribune Business that it was only notified of the terminations at 10am yesterday morning - when the exercise was already underway.

And he argued that the resort had also performed a complete ‘u-turn’ on its position at end-October, when its top executive responded to questions from union officials by saying there would “be no reduction in jobs”.

As a result of yesterday’s terminations, Mr Woods said it was now impossible to trust One & Only Ocean Club management and take what they said “at face value”.

He added that the terminations had occurred when both the resort and hotel union were awaiting a Supreme Court verdict dealing with several of the issues raised yesterday, plus the injunction that bars union executives from coming on resort property.

Mr Woods accused the hotel, which is operated by Kerzner International’s One & Only brand, of “testing us” and adopting the same hostile attitude towards the union as the Melia Nassau Beach Resort.

But, while acknowledging the “tremendous blow” that has been delivered to the terminated employees just weeks before Christmas, Mr Woods suggested that no industrial action against the One & Only Ocean Club was imminent.

He explained that the union wanted to first consult its attorneys, and find out the resort’s rationale for the terminations, before deciding its next move.

Still, Mr Woods made plain the union’s unhappiness with both the ‘lack of notice’ by the resort and the seeming breach of management’s previous assurances on jobs.

“We just got a note this morning that they have moved to terminations, and we’re trying to find out what’s going on,” Mr Woods told Tribune Business.

“They brought a letter at 10 am, sending it via one of the management personnel this morning. There’s no reasoning, no nothing. They just said there was a termination exercise. Some of the [union] officers are up there now, and we have to wait for them to come back to ascertain what is going on.”

Given that the One & Only Ocean Club, which is currently closed for repairs and renovations post-Hurricane Matthew, employed 350 staff, yesterday’s termination amount to the lay-off of around one in six staff - between 15-17 per cent.

Ashley McBain, spokesperson for Kerzner International, explained the terminations thus: “We continue to ensure we have the best team in place to deliver a true One & Only experience, constantly evaluating the performance of our team members and their capabilities.

“At this time, we are reorganising our structure and redefining job descriptions across the resort, which has resulted in a necessary turnover of about 60 positions, which will ensure a streamlining of the guest experience.”

Reading ‘between the lines’ of Ms McBain’s statement, it appears that Kerzner International and One & Only management have decided to follow Sandals’ lead in using the closure to prune their workforce and remove under-performing staff.

The statement implies that the guest experience and service levels have not been ‘up to par’ for the five/six-star property that is the One & Only Ocean Club, something that was confirmed yesterday by Shane Gibson, minister of labour and national insurance, who said management had spoken of visitor complaints.

Robert Farquharson, the director of labour, indicated that the One & Only Ocean Club would seek to fill the terminated posts in time for its February 2017 re-opening, but with new workers - not those released. This would mirror Sandals’ actions this summer over the re-staffing of its Royal Bahamian property.

Disclosing that the Department of Labour had been informed of the terminations on Friday, Mr Farquharson said: “They would have made 61 persons redundant, and they would expect that when they begin the process of reopening these persons would be considered, similar to what happened at Sandals, we have been advised.

“Right now they don’t need that large amount of people because they are going into major construction, and repairing damages brought on as a result of the hurricane. They would have contacted us formally, pursuant to the Code of Industrial Practice, on Friday of last week.

“They would have met with Minister Gibson on Monday, and I think that they would have been in contact with the hotel union to make sure that those employees have been paid any entitlements, and ensure that the law is not violated as it relates to those  persons.”

Mr Woods, though, accused the One & Only Ocean Club of reneging on previous assurances that there would be no impact to jobs during the property’s post-Matthew renovation period.

“We would have met with them [management] shortly after the hurricane at the end of October to talk about how employees would be engaged, when they could come back, and what’s going to happen,” he told Tribune Business.

“We asked a specific question: Are there going to be job losses? We were told by Mr Conway, the general manager, that there would be no reduction in the number of jobs.”

Mr Woods said staff were due to return in January for a February re-opening around Valentine’s Day, but added of yesterday’s events: “It means whatever they say to you, you cannot take at face value.”

He added that the union needed to first understand the reasons for the One & Only Ocean Club’s action before determining its next move.

“I don’t know what their thinking is,” Mr Woods said of the boutique property. “Once our attorney, Harvey Tynes, looks at it we’ll go from there.

“We still need to meet with the company and find out their thinking and the route they’re taking, and why we’ve arrived at where we are. The next couple of weeks are going to be interesting.”

Mr Woods also appeared to question whether pressure from the terminations had come from Kerzner International or the Ocean Club’s owner, Access Industries, the conglomerate owned by billionaire Len Blavatnik.

“We’ve got to know who we’re fighting,” he added. “We can’t fight blind. I don’t want to fight Harry when there’s Charlie behind him.

“We’re waiting to get a listing of persons who were let go because we have persons up there who are agency shop or not union members. I know that the president would have spoken to the human resources department, who indicated that they would try to arrange a meeting for tomorrow but certainly before the end of the week.”