Workers at the Melia Nassau Beach resort and the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) should cease "running after crumbs" in the wake of the union's defeat in the Supreme Court over gratuities, according to Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) CEO Edison Sumner.

Sumner told Guardian Business that he had sent an appeal to BHCAWU heads urging them take advantage of the National Tripartite Council in resolving the final outstanding issue in the dispute: calculating the rate of distribution for held gratuities to the resort's line staff.

"Having gone through a lengthy court battle over this and spending a lot of money... you can bring that matter now to the tripartite council and allow the council to assist in mediating this stand-off and try to help them come to a resolution on this matter.

"I understand the issue about the gratuity, and that's fine, but you're running after crumbs when there's a whole bread on the table that you can go after," he said. Sumner encouraged the union to put greater effort into improving the level of training and skills in the tourism industry's labor force to ultimately provide workers with a stronger case for demanding higher wages and better opportunities in the workplace.

"Let's spend more time getting our workforce to be better trained so they can be more productive, increasing their level of skills so that we can begin closing the skills gap that exists in the country," stated Sumner.

Melia executives and its workers had been locked in a protracted dispute over gratuities at the resort following the executives' decision to remove the automatically included 15 percent gratuities from its all-inclusive vacation packages.

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