The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The hotel union’s president yesterday said it will be a “red letter day” for its several thousand members when their now ten-year wait for a new industrial agreement with the main employer body is ended.

Darrin Woods, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union’s (BHCAWU) chief, told Tribune Business that he hopes to close a deal with the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association, which represents Atlantis in particular, by mid-second quarter this year.

The union and its members have been without an industrial agreement since the last one expired in January 2013, and Mr Woods said that apart from increased financial compensation to at least partially offset the increased cost of living a new deal will also provide better job security.

Atlantis and other resorts have operated as if the previous agreement’s terms and conditions are still in effect because a former union leadership failed to begin negotiations on a new deal within the stipulated timeframe of at least 90 days before the January 2013 expiry. As a result, BHCAWU union members have not enjoyed any wage or benefit improvements for the past ten years other than those provided by their employers.

“We’re still proceeding along with those,” Mr Woods said of the union’s various industrial agreement negotiations. “We’re almost there. There are one or two small things we are trying to get over. We envision bringing that to a close in short order.”

Besides the Association, the union is also locked in industrial agreement talks with other entities including Restaurants Bahamas (KFC), Best Western, Graycliff and Harbourside. Mr Woods yesterday voiced optimism that once one deal was concluded, especially the one with the Atlantis group, other properties will follow suit by agreeing theirs.

“All of them are pretty much in the same light,” he said of the talks’ status. “We believe that once we conclude one the rest will follow suit. They’re all at the same stage; the financial side of things. When one drops the rest will follow. We’re anywhere in the first to mid-second quarter to have those completed.”

Referring specifically to the negotiations with the Association, the union president added: “That one will be a red letter day for us to bring to a conclusion for various reasons. That one is the most important for us. That one sets the tone for the industry as a whole. Even though we have separate agreements with other entities, they look to the master agreement as the example. The agreement with the Association sets the tone for whatever is going to happen.”

As to the impact on union members from finally obtaining a new industrial deal, Mr Woods said: “What it will do is give them a little bit more leeway at the belt, give them room to breathe and give them a sense of security. In the absence of an industrial agreement, anything tends to happen, but once these agreements are in place they dictate exactly how things should be.

“In addition to increases in wages, benefits and the like, it gives them increased security and something to protect them. It goes a long way and is the number one priority. To be without an industrial agreement it’s almost like living in a Wild Wild West; you operate with no rules at all.

“Everything we’ve done has been focused on trying to bring all negotiations to a closure, and not only a closure. One thing that we’ve committed to the members is that we will get an industrial agreement that can be registered and become binding on the parties, forming part of their employment contract. That is paramount. Once we have done that it will surpass anything done on their behalf going back as far as I can remember.”

Mr Woods previously said many hotel staff worked “unprecedented” five-day weeks during the 2022 tourism season’s slowest months. The post-COVID tourism recovery’s momentum meant many employees worked double the two-three day weeks typically endured during September and October to meet the demand.

“We have pretty much come through the slower period with higher occupancies and expanded work levels. August, September and October, you’d usually be working two to three days. With the exception I told you about, those other areas were working five days minimum, which is unprecedented for that time of the year. If we’re able to ride the proverbial wave through 2023 we believe that should take us all the way to Easter,” he said at the time.

“We understand there’s an expected uptick in tourist arrivals next year, and we hope that translates into heads in bed in the hospitality industry, not Airbnb, so our people can benefit.” Mr Woods said higher occupancies, and greater guest numbers, translated into higher tipped or gratuity income for housekeepers, room attendants and persons working in service areas such as the restaurants.