The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

TOP executives of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) and Atlantis Resort were scheduled to meet yesterday to try to resolve wage increase issues for employees who fall under the tipping category.

Labour and Public Services Minister Pia Glover-Rolle told reporters yesterday that a “peaceful meeting” would be held with Labour director Howard Thompson, BHCAWU president Darrin Woods, and a resort official.

Last week, the BHCAWU protested at the Sidney Poitier Bridge to agitate for members who receive tips.

Mr Woods said workers were tired of fighting for a pay increase, declaring: “Enough is enough.”

Mrs Glover-Rolle said the Department of Labour was informed that the union would meet at the bridge.

“We generally know what’s happening in the country, as in regard to labour relations,” she said on the side-line of the Public Service’s ‘Reimagination takes Form’ conclave at the National Training Agency.

“But the unions have a right to protest. Again, President Woods says it was not a protest. It was a meeting of his members at the foot of the bridge that morning and that’s what they did.”

Mrs Glover–Role said Labour director Howard Thompson met with Mr Woods on the morning of the demonstration at the bridge, adding it was decided Mr Thompson would conduct a lunch meeting yesterday with the hotel union president and an Atlantis senior executive.

Mr Thompson, in a statement, said he hopes the meeting will help to bring down the temperature and allow reasonable heads to prevail.

The BHCAWU has reportedly agreed to “stand down” until negotiations are completed.

Meanwhile, Mrs Glover-Rolle said she also remains optimistic that an amicable agreement can be made between BHCAWU and Atlantis.

She continued: “I understand that negotiations have gone well except for one clause in the negotiations that is the matter of contention. So, I think they’ve been actually negotiating in good faith. But there’s one clause that is a matter of the tip category that needs to be ameliorated. So I’m hopeful that Atlantis and the BHCAWU will make resolution on that.”

Last week, Russell Miller, president of The Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association, said he was surprised by the BHCAWU’s protest. He said the association and the union had already agreed to all of the financial conditions in the contract.

“Given that we were in the final stages of completing these negotiations with the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union “BHCAWU,” we are surprised and disappointed by the statements made by BHCAWU’s president, Darrin Woods,” Mr Russell said in a statement.

“Both sides had already agreed to all financial and non-financial terms and conditions in the new agreement, and we were in the process of vetting and binding documents for signature.”

“This unexpected, eleventh-hour impasse is incredibly unfair to our bargaining unit team members, who have worked without an agreement since 2013 due to the union’s failure to put a new contract forward. We have continued to honour and operate under the terms of the expired agreement without fail. We will not allow today to derail our commitment to finalising a new agreement as soon as possible,” Mr Russell said.