The Tribune

• Union members in 3% ‘across-the-board’ rise

• Non-union workers set to enjoy up to 5% hike

• Guest volumes yet to recover to pre-COVID

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Atlantis is awarding its unionised employees a 3 percent “across-the-board” pay increase with effect from April 25, its top executive saying: “Our team members need an increase now”.

Audrey Oswell, the Paradise Island mega resort’s president and managing director, in a videotaped message to staff confirmed that non-union members will not be left out. She revealed that they will receive a performance-based pay increase ranging from zero to 5 percent to take effect at the same time as their unionised colleagues.

Disclosing that the pay increase is being implemented even though guest volumes have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, Ms Oswell said the 3 percent wage hike for unionised staff is separate from ongoing negotiations with the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers (BHCAWU) over a new industry-wide industrial agreement that has yet to be completed.

Conscious that it has been more than nine years since union members last received a wage increase, after the BHCAWU failed to submit its proposal for a new industrial agreement by the deadline stipulated in the deal that expired in January 2103, Ms Oswell told Atlantis workers: “I want to send a heartfelt thank you to each of you for your support during the most challenging period in our company’s history.

“Despite the many challenges that COVID has sent our way, our team has remained focused and your hard work has produced tangible results. We could not have gotten through this time without your commitment. Given how busy the resort has been in recent weeks, it may surprise you that we are still not back to 2019 volumes.

“However, despite the current world events, business levels continue to improve and we are on the path to recovery. As business steadily improves, we can bring back more benefits and programmes for our colleagues.” These, Ms Oswell said, include “roundtables” featuring senior management executives and staff; “mentoring circles”; various sports leagues; worker appreciation days and awards.

Saving the best for last, the Atlantis chief then revealed: “This year we are also pleased to be able to award merit increases. Increases to base pay will be effective April 25, 2022, and reflected in your pay beginning May 12, 2022. Increases for non-union team members will range from zero to 5 percent based on individual performance appraisals. Your manager or division head will be engaging with you regarding your performance review in the next few weeks.

“For our bargaining unit team members, we know that the industrial agreement that governs your pay and increases expired in January 2013. As a result, many of you have not received a wage increase since then. This year, Atlantis will issue a 3 percent across-the-board increase for all active bargaining unit team members effective April 25, 2022, to be reflected in your pay beginning May 12, 2022.”

Affirming that the 3 percent increase is separate and apart from industrial agreement talks between hotel employers and the BHCAWU, Ms Oswell said: “We will continue to negotiate with the union to sign a new agreement. When Atlantis and the union sign a new industrial agreement, the terms of that agreement will apply.

“In the interim, Atlantis has made the decision that our team members need an increase now.” She added that “for the very first time later this year” Atlantis will offer its unionised staff the chance to voluntarily participate in a health benefits programme, with the details to be released at a later date.”

The rationale for, and timing of, the Atlantis pay increase were not explained directly in Ms Oswell’s message, especially given that guest volumes have yet to recover to pre-COVID levels. However, the Atlantis chief’s language “that our team members need an increase now” indicates that the Paradise Island resort has moved to do what it can in cushioning the impact of soaring prices and inflation on its workforce’s quality of live and living standards.

Most Atlantis staff will receive a pay increase, and given that this could apply to some 6,600 workers, the economic impact from additional spending could be significant. Some, including the Government, will likely tout it as a further sign of growing confidence in the tourism economy’s revival prospects, as well as a just reward for the efforts of Bahamian workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Others, meanwhile, may see it as a sign of looming wage pressures throughout the Bahamian economy as workers seek increases to keep up with the cost of living - something that could potentially fuel further inflation as well as increased import spending. It also appears that Atlantis decided it could not wait on a new industrial agreement to be concluded before acting on the pay increases.

Sheila Edden-Burrows, the BHCAWU’s general secretary, in a March 22, 2022, note to members confirmed that the pay rise unveiled by Ms Oswell was not part of the industrial agreement discussions. “This is to advise that the 3 percent increase that was given by the company across-the-board to the bargaining unit employees does not impact the negotiation process,” she wrote.

“The union is currently in discussion with the association (The Bahamas Hotel Employers Association) for the financial section of the agreement on behalf of the industry.” Darrin Woods, the BHCAWU’s president, yesterday told Tribune Business that the 3 percent pay rise “has nothing to do” with the industrial agreement talks.

When asked whether Atlantis’ move pre-empts or cuts across those talks, he replied: “We always welcome any merit increases; any type of increase the members get. We’re not going to say: ‘Don’t give it to them’. It just came about the other day. The members were asking us what it was. We had to make a clarification by saying the company is at liberty to give an increase.

“The timing may be in question. We’re trying to figure it out. At the end of the day, we won’t be the ones saying not to give it to them.” Mr Woods declined to comment on the status of the industrial agreement negotiations, although he indicated that Mrs Edden-Burrows was correct in saying that the talks were now focused on the deal’s financial elements and that all other aspects had been agreed.

The BHCAWU president added that if discussions “aren’t going the way they’re supposed to, you’ll be hearing from me. You can take that as a given”. Hotels have, for the last nine-plus years, operated as if the terms and conditions of the expired 2013 industrial agreement are still in place. They are able to do so because the union failed to submit its proposal for a revised deal by the stipulated deadline of 90 days before the last one expired.

Dave Beckford, a former BHCAWU presidential candidate and now a critic of the union, yesterday argued that Atlantis had made it “look weak” by giving the pay rise ahead of a concluded industrial agreement. “We don’t know if the negotiations are stalled and the employer is doing this by themselves,” he added. “At the same time, how does this impact negotiations?

“You cannot say it is a bad thing. Any increase is good but, at the end of the day, it makes the union look weak. It comes across that the employer took into consideration the cost of living has gone up, inflation has gone up exponentially. Your union is not doing anything for you, we’re doing something for you. It’s a smart move by the employer.”