The recent demonstration by hundreds of Baha Mar employees in support of Baha Mar CEO and Chairman Sarkis Izmirlian signals the start of months and possibly years of legal action between the resort, its contractor, its lender and the government. It also discloses the reality of what that struggle will be: a rich man's war, but a poor man's fight.
The demonstration follows a decision by the government to step in and pay salaries for the property's employees this month, sparking concerns that workers were being used as "pawns" in the resort's Chapter 11 bankruptcy claim.
It also follows a decision by the Bahamas Supreme Court to adjourn Baha Mar's application for local judicial recognition of its Chapter 11 filing in a U.S. bankruptcy court until Tuesday.
This demonstration was not as spontaneous as Baha Mar would like the public to believe. No doubt encouraged by managers and the company, these workers took to the street hoping that their support for the multibillion-dollar property, owned and operated by the foreign son of a foreign billionaire, would save their low-wage jobs.
Baha Mar's creditors in The Bahamas are collectively owed an estimated $123 million. Baha Mar argues that if the Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. were to be recognized in this jurisdiction the company would have more money to pay the employees they surreptitiously sent home the week before. The company says this but in its filings in the U.S. court it set aside severance money to pay workers it intends to terminate.
These workers, who gyrated themselves in the hot summer sun for Izmirlian, should take note that his company desperately wants this money released so it can, in part, terminate them. They should reconsider if that type of ostentatious support should be shown for the man who could not deliver his dream on Cable Beach.
Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said that Baha Mar has made a decision to circumvent the Bahamian court system and file for Chapter 11 in a U.S. court without notice to major stakeholders. This, she feels, opens the door for "serious and far-reaching implications" for the country's sovereignty. So the decision to pay a month's salary to Baha Mar workers is no doubt an effort by the Christie administration to postpone the social and political backlash of having 2,000 workers join the unemployment line.
It is unreasonably optimistic to believe that the property's woes will be resolved in two months so this move only delays the inevitable - that is, unless the government is prepared to continue paying salaries if a resolution can not be arrived at before the next pay period. This would be a bad move, just as paying for one month was a bad move. Sadly, the employer of these workers seems no longer able to deliver on the dream it sold. Their dismissal is sadly inevitable.
For better, but more than likely, for worse, the Bahamian workers are pawns in this continuing drama. They are today and will be until the dust finally settles. While hindsight is 20/20, it seems like the current state of affairs confirms some commentators' initial worst fears about this development. It should not have been a single-phase project, the developer did not have the money to back up his vision, it was too big to succeed and was poorly conceived.
While the current discussion around the matter seems to focus on who should bear the weight of Baha Mar's failure, the true losers, the Bahamian worker and economy, are to face some dark days ahead.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
