The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Unionised employees were yesterday placed on “work to rule” at most of Nassau’s major resorts in a move likely to raise fears for this week’s key Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Darrin Woods, pictured, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) president, told Tribune Business that the move was sparked by Atlantis’ decision to implement a new shift system impacting some 400-500 housekeeping staff as well as a “12-point” disciplinary system.

Arguing that negotiations with the Paradise Island resort had proven fruitless, despite the union engaging in talks since late September, Mr Woods said it had decided to take a stand due to concerns that other hotel properties are likely to follow Atlantis’ lead.

He charged that Atlantis’ move also breached the industrial agreement that the union and the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association (BHREA), the hotel industry’s bargaining group, are treating as still in effect despite expiring in 2013.

Mr Woods described the situation as an ominous indication of the approach the BHREA may take over negotiating a new deal, adding that the union could no longer hold back members who had wanted to take action industrial action from early September.

The “work to rule”, which means hotel union members will stick rigidly to their job descriptions and “not go beyond the call of duty, extends beyond Atlantis to all BHREA member properties. These include the Four Seasons Ocean Club; the British Colonial Hilton; Melia Nassau Beach; and Lyford Cay Club, although Baha Mar will not be impacted because it is non-unionised.

The BHCAWU’s move will, though, likely heighten concerns that the Nassau hotel sector, which is the island’s leading industry and private sector employer, could be disrupted by industrial action right at the start of the peak winter season whose opening is marked by this week’s Thanksgiving holiday.

Mr Woods, though, said the union had done everything it could to avoid such a scenario, but could “stand by” no longer given the potential impact on its members.

“We put our members at Atlantis and all those covered by the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association on work to rule,” Mr Woods confirmed to Tribune Business. “It has to do with them [Atlantis] going ahead to make the housekeepers shift workers when they’ve never worked shifts before.”

Disclosing that as many as 400-500 workers may be impacted by a shift system that is due to start on December 3, the hotel union chief said the other concern related to “the 12-point” disciplinary system that Atlantis has now introduced.

Mr Woods said this threatened to “give new life to breaches” that usually “fall away after a certain period of time”, as Atlantis will be assessing a certain number of points for infractions such as arriving late to work, thereby “holding them for longer than they should”.

Ed Fields, Atlantis’s spokesperson, could not be contacted for comment before press time last night. Mr Woods, though, said of the resort: “They’re changing some of the things people are used to doing.

“I can tell you they [BHCAWU members] gave us a mandate from September 27. Overwhelmingly the majority of persons in the room wanted to take action. We’ve tried to negotiate between us and come to a resolution. The management stuck to their guns and said this is what they’re going to do. We’ve been in touch with them from September 20 to last week Thursday.”

Mr Woods said the “work to rule” meant that union members will do no more than their job description requires, meaning that if a resort property is short-staffed on a particular shift due to sickness and other reasons for absence, “that’s on you and I’m going home when finished”.

Revealing that he was concerned about potential wider ramifications, given that the sector has no current industrial agreement, the BHCAWU chief said: “The reason why we’re doing it is the president of the BHREA [Russell Miller] works at Atlantis, so whatever Atlantis gets away with the rest will surely follow.

“This also says to us that if you’re going to take this kind of position on things like that: Take what we want, the attitude will be the same in industrial agreement negotiations. That’s why we’ve involved the members now so they understand the methods we’ve tried, and are not going to stand for it any more.”

Mr Woods said the union was supposed to meet Atlantis management to continue talks last week, only for the resort to send a letter saying it was “moving ahead” as planned.

As for the potential for winter tourism’s disruption as a result of industrial action, he told Tribune Business: “You can’t blame the union because we’ve done all we can do. We’ve done our best.

“Our members have been urging us to do something long time. We said we should be able to overcome this by dialogue. We’ve asked them for information showing the need to implement this shift and policy. We’ve asked them from day one. They’ve asked us to accept what they’re saying.”