The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

NEWLY-elected president of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) Darrin Woods yesterday pledged the group's targeted focus on getting a registered industrial agreement negotiated and executed, following his team's landslide victory.

History was made at the polls on Wednesday, when members voted in a general secretary as president, ousting long-time president Nicole Martin.

Darrin Woods, BHCAWU president, said he gives God thanks for giving him an opportunity to "serve the people", and said it was very "humbling" to have been selected to serve in such a capacity.

The president admitted while the win was expected, the group was hoping that more people would come out. Still, he attributed the turn out to what he described as a "drought" that had been affecting the hospitality industry over the past five years.

"We believe that if we are able to focus on empowering our members and advancing their cause, we will be able to reconnect with our membership in terms of benefits that we're going to be offering to them. So we believe that going forward the support for the union will begin to grow again," he said.

The previous industrial agreement expired in 2013.

Mentioning the new agreement will include "increases and benefits" to empower members, Mr Woods said: "We are going to be introducing a membership discount card that will give them discounts at various business houses. So in the meantime while they are negotiating a contract, we are going to extend their buying power - the dollar that they spend."

"We're also going to focus on medical care for our members by partnering with First Care that will give discounted fees on what they pay monthly for the medical stuff, and (we will) also (focus on) the major medical department with the union health and welfare that has been established since 2003, as it offers our members a major medical of a million dollars for around a $157 a month," he continued.

Mr Woods said they plan on amending their outdated constitution because of the "challenges" it produces.

He said they are also hoping to establish an assistance program so members can receive a benefit in times of disasters, adding that the union is in full support of Health Minister Dr Duane Sands' proposal to change breadbasket items.

"We also want to look at focusing on a healthier lifestyle for our membership because we realise persons are developing non-communicable disease such as hypertension and diabetes when we can try to encourage them to eat more healthier, and do a little bit more exercise," he explained.

Another initiative the president mentioned was introducing financial seminars to help prepare members for retirement, qualify for homes, and to provide them with a "different outlook" on what it takes to become a "well rounded group of employees and members of the union".

"One of the things my administration intends to do is have a courtesy call meeting with the Minister of Tourism to find out how the hotel union - who's responsible for the number one industry - can be a more intricate partner and help with the building and revitalisation of the hospitality industry… (in hopes that) the government will win, the country will win, our members will win, the investors will win, and of course the union will end at the end of the day," he said.