The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Atlantis last night reassured employees it had not been sold and branded claims of redundancy packages being offered as "entirely false" despite some furloughed workers pushing for them.

A spokesperson for the Paradise Island mega resort, responding to commentary on What's App and other social media platforms, said in a statement attributed to management: "Atlantis has not been sold, and no team members have been made redundant. Any such reports are entirely false."

In a message to staff, Atlantis described "rumors" regarding redundancy packages" as "entirely false" just hours after some workers went public with calls for the resort to end their uncertainty and financial hardship - at least in the short-term - by providing with them with termination pay and benefits they are entitled to under the law.

Dave Beckford, a furloughed Atlantis employee and former Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) presidential candidate, was among those urging the mega resort to end a situation where workers are "hanging in limbo" over their jobs and financial assistance.

With the Government yet to formally announce whether the social assistance initiatives it is offering will continue beyond end-September, which is presently when the temporary furlough period also expires, and no date for Atlantis' re-opening, Mr Beckford urged the resort to put workers out of their misery.

Arguing that "we cannot survive" indefinitely on the $150 per week provided by the Government's unemployment benefit extension, he added: "There are many hotel workers I've spoken to personally who would rather accept a severance package, move on and find some other way to get employed. Several persons I have spoken to would like to get their package and cut ties.

"The million dollar question is that even if Atlantis opens up in November, December or January, it can't hire all those workers back. It does not make sense for them to hire everybody back if they do not have high occupancy rates and there are not enough people in the hotel.

"We're not about bashing Atlantis, the Government and employers, but what is stopping Atlantis from giving employees separation packages? The Government can't keep extending for ever. We want to know what the plan is. We seem to be hanging in limbo. Are we supposed to settle for $150 a week to the end of the year. Baha Mar and the Hilton made people redundant. What's stopping Atlantis"?"

By taking separation packages now, workers run the risk of being unable to find a job elsewhere in the COVID-19 scarred economy. And, having been shut for six months, many employers - no matter how large - may lack the resources to make major severance payments.

"The Government unemployment benefit is going to soon end," Mr Beckford added. "Where does that leave us as hotel workers? We're the backbone of the industry. What is going to happen to us as workers? We cannot be left hanging in the balance. We don't deserve it."