The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The hotel union’s president yesterday said he would act “in the best interests” of members and the industry, as the “work-to-rule” across New Providence resorts continues to Thursday.

Darrin Woods, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers (BHCAWU) union chief, told Tribune Business that the “frenzy” over it placing 5,000 members on “work-to-rule” last week was an over-reaction by government ministers and hoteliers as it did not mean a withdrawal of labour at the start of the key winter tourism season.

He revealed that the proposed meeting between the union and Atlantis to resolve the grievances that sparked the dispute had been pushed back to Thursday this week, having originally been scheduled for Monday, after key resort executives were said to be unavailable.

“They changed the date. They pushed it back to Thursday,” Mr Woods said of the meeting scheduled to be held at the Department of Labour. “We were ready but not the employer. We’re still optimistic, we’re prepared, but I don’t know how important it is to them.

“We’ll see what they say whenever the meeting is held. We’re ready. We’re obviously available for discussions and will see if the ministry can bring us closer and go from there.”

The hotel union last week placed its members on “work-to-rule” at multiple New Providence resorts just prior to the Thanksgiving weekend that kick-starts the vital winter tourism season, after it was unable to resolve differences with Atlantis over its new “12 point” disciplinary system and proposed shift system for housekeeping staff.

The union’s action extended to other properties that are members of the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association (BHREA), the industry’s bargaining group. These resorts include the Four Seasons Ocean Club; the British Colonial Hilton; Melia Nassau Beach; and Lyford Cay Club, as well as Atlantis.

This prompted pleas, led by Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism, for the hotel union and its members not to engage in industrial action that could disrupt the sector’s projected “double digit” growth through the Christmas period and into the New Year.

Mr Woods, though, yesterday suggested this was an over-reaction to the union’s stance. “I guess people made a whole big frenzy about it,” he told Tribune Business. “It’s just where you do what you’ve got to do. Anything else above that, you get the person hired to do that job.”

A “work to rule” means hotel union members will stick rigidly to their job descriptions and “not go beyond the call of duty”, so if their employer is short-staffed because of absences due to sickness and holidays they will simply go home and refuse to work any extra hours.

Mr D’Aguilar, though, has urged union leaders to “remain level headed” as The Bahamas “doesn’t need to jeopardise a very good thing right now” with the country’s largest industry set for “a very healthy Christmas” based on forward booking and air arrivals (stopover visitor) data.

He called on hotel workers not to “impair” the quality of visitor experiences by delivering “sub-standard service” through a “work-to-rule” or any form of industrial unrest, hinting that doing so would effectively undermine their own best interests.

With Christmas and peak 2018-2019 winter season rapidly approaching, Mr D’Aguilar suggested it represented an end to reduced work weeks for many in the sector and a chance to earn increased income from tips/gratuities.

Mr Woods declined “to get into a public spat with any of the ministers” yesterday, but added that himself and other union executives had been elected to do a job and will “do what’s in the best interest of members and the industry” in resolving the dispute with Atlantis.

“Whatever the Minister says from this point on will be him talking,” Mr Woods added. “We’ll do what we believe to be in the best interests of members and the industry, but they will have to co-exist.

“Either way, it’s going to be resolved. Nothing stays the same one way or the other. Negotiations, we say it’s a beginning, middle and the end.”

Mr Woods last week said the union had done everything it could to avoid any potential labour disruption, but could “stand by” no longer given the potential impact on its members.

Arguing that negotiations 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.

There have been no reports to-date of the “work-to-rule” negatively impacting the hotel industry and its service quality, or the guest experience. Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president of government and external affairs, last week said the industry would take any measures necessary to avoid such disruption.

“The union has made its position clear that if they do some industrial action it will impact the Melia, and we will be guided accordingly and take the necessary precautions to ensure guests are not disrupted by any such eventuality taking place,” Mr Sands said.

“Everybody has been put on alert. The action has been geared towards a particular property [Atlantis], although the union made it clear they may include all member properties of the BHREA. That’s not determined, and we have to wait and see how this progresses.”