The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

HOTEL workers temporarily laid off as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are anxious for the crisis to end and unsure how they will make ends meet.

Countries all over the world have closed their borders to international travel in response to COVID-19, which has forced a number of hotels to suspend their operations locally.

Leonardo McIntosh, a server at Baha Mar, hopes life can soon return to some level of normalcy. Mr McIntosh said although the pandemic is mostly only affecting persons directly involved with the tourism industry for now, if the pandemic worsens, the entire country will be negatively impacted.

“Most definitely what everybody is looking forward to is getting back to their lives,” he said.

“My worst fear is that (the pandemic) lasts until the end of the year, because after that it isn’t just going to trickle down on hotel workers, it’s going to affect everybody.

“It’s going to start getting down to the media and the hospitals. People who think that their jobs are secure — government workers, teachers — everybody will be unemployed after that.

“That’s something that’s going to affect the whole country and we don’t need that. So hopefully this can get under control by at least June.”

In the meantime, Mr McIntosh said he will apply for the unemployment benefits the government is giving to individuals directly employed in the tourism industry.

“I think that the benefits are needed most definitely. We appreciate whatever we can get because in times like this, every dollar counts. That’s the most important thing.

“The benefits are going to help me with the necessities and buying groceries here and there. That’s about it and that’s all I can hope for. Hopefully, in the next three months it gets better so we can get back to our regular lives.”

Cleavland Clarke, a server at Atlantis, said they were just given letters stating they were temporarily laid off for 28 days.

“Ain’t nobody in the hotels so they gave mostly everyone their letters today stating that it’s four weeks off from work,” he said.

Asked whether he expected the coronavirus to have an immediate impact on his job, he added: “We deal with tourism so automatically we assumed that the (coronavirus pandemic) would have been an issue.

“Tourism is the biggest thing in The Bahamas so we understood that the virus would cause a challenge, and right now it’s nothing we can do.”

Mr Clarke added that he has no choice but to apply for the unemployment benefit to support his family.

“I have a wife and I have kids, so I have to be able to provide as a father,” he said.

“I rent too so I have to be able to do something to pay the landlord, because at the end of the day me staying in his apartment is for him to get income.

“So I have to do the right thing and try to work so everybody could get something. At this point, whatever I could do as a man to provide for my family and to be able to pay my landlord, that’s what I will have to do.”

Mr Clarke said although the unemployment benefit will help, he is still concerned about how he will provide for his family in the long-term while the hotel remains closed.

“I have to make sure my children eat everyday and I have to make sure the light on.

“But BPL, because they are a private company, they’re telling you straight up if you don’t pay what you have to pay, they’re cutting you off. But how can we pay in these circumstances ?”

Michael Brown, another server at Atlantis, said while he is grateful for the unemployment benefits, he is not sure it will be enough.

“We in tourism pay so much money to National Insurance and so many times don’t claim at all, so I feel like we deserve so much more than I’m certain we will be given,” he told The Tribune.

“But at this point now, every dollar matters. So I’m certain that everyone will claim and get any type of benefits as they need.”

Still, Mr Brown said he believed the current blow to the tourism industry will force the country to look into developing other industries.

“People may be in fear for jobs but they are not looking at the bigger picture,” he said. “The reality is, because we depend on tourism as the number one industry, if something happens to it then the whole economy is in trouble.

“So I feel like this happened for a reason, so we could get back to what we really need to be into which is agriculture and our natural resources.”

Baha Mar, Sandals, Atlantis and the Melia resorts have all announced their planned suspension of operations due to the tourism slowdown brought on by the pandemic. Some of the resorts intend to pay staff a propoprtion of their salaries during the shutdown.