The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ATLANTIS executives are surprised and disheartened by the Department of Labour’s investigation into the resort and view the probe as a departure from the historic relationship the resort has enjoyed with the Bahamas government, according to Atlantis senior vice-president of government affairs and special projects Vaughn Roberts.

Labour and Immigration Minister Keith Bell had said the Labour department launched an investigation into Atlantis when employees complained that they felt “pressured and intimidated” to stand against Royal Caribbean International’s proposed Paradise Island Beach Club project. Atlantis president and managing director Audrey Oswell had urged staff in a letter to take a position concerning the $100m project.

 Labour representatives visited Atlantis last week and submitted survey cards asking staff if they feel intimidated or obligated to lobby against the RCI project.

 The Tribune understands government officials were surprised by Atlantis’ vocal opposition to RCI’s project.

 Likewise, Atlantis executives were surprised by the labour probe.

 “We’re concerned not so much from what the survey will say; If anything, we’re just concerned with the approach,” Mr Roberts told reporters yesterday. “We view ourselves as an important corporate citizen in The Bahamas. We’re the largest private entity here and we’ve had a very good relationship with the Department of Labour, certainly The Bahamas government for many years of our development and operation and this was just a bit of a surprise for us.”

 Mr Roberts said executives had not received details of the “anonymous” complaints the Department of Labour has allegedly received.

 “We agreed to cooperate but you know the practice for the last 25 years, the cooperation has been different from what was demonstrated here last week and so we were very disheartened by it but we stand firm in our view that our employees would make the right decisions on their own,” he said.

 He said although Labour representatives handed out survey cards, he doesn’t imagine many people participated in the survey.

 “They didn’t reach all of our employees and we saw the cards on the floor in the parking area so it’s not clear to us yet how many responses they got,” he said. “They apparently are tallying up and summarising the findings and so we look forward to seeing what the survey uncovered.”