Union to ‘do what it has to do’ over Hilton meltdown

As of Tuesday, June 28, 2016

The hotel union’s president yesterday said that if working conditions at the British Colonial Hilton do not improve soon it will “do what it has to do”, amid an air conditioning breakdown that has persisted for more than a week.

Meanwhile, Robert Farquharson, the director of labour, told Tribune Business that he will send a team to the property to assess the situation, after this newspaper was alerted to staff complaints about the unbearably humid conditions they are being forced to endure.

Tribune Business sources said a number of the British Colonial Hilton’s 300 staff did not report for work yesterday in protest at the conditions.

However, Nicole Martin, president of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU), was unable to confirm or deny whether this occurred. And attempts to reach British Colonial Hilton general manager, Rui Domingues, were unsuccessful up to press time yesterday.

A malfunctioning air conditioning system at the historic downtown Nassau property has forced it to compensate guests by providing them with accommodations at other Nassau hotels. China Construction America (CCA), the Pointe developer and Baha Mar’s main contractor, acquired the resort in late 2014.

“We were made aware of the issue some time last week when it got really bad,” Ms Martin told Tribune Business.

“The union is in communication with the company trying to figure out the best solution to it. People are still on it. I guess it’s a bad situation for everyone, and if it doesn’t get any better real quickly then the union will have to do what it has to do. Health and safety in the workplace is paramount.”

Mr Farquharson told Tribune Business yesterday: “I know that they have some major issues with the air- conditioning units, and a number of their guests have had to be relocated to other properties in New Providence. I know that they had to reschedule a number of their commercial activities because of those issues.

“We haven’t received any complaints either from individual employees or the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union, which is the bargaining agent for those non-managerial employees. We have not received any formal or informal complaints.

“I will take the initiative and have my team go down there and conduct an inspection to determine exactly what the situation is.”