Prime Minister Perry Christie helped to save the jobs of 300 Atlantis employees last September, Minister of Labour Shane Gibson said in the House of Assembly yesterday. During the wrap up of debate on the National Tripartite Council Bill 2014, Gibson and East Grand Bahama MP Peter Turnquest had an exchange over the Christie administration's record of keeping Bahamians employed.
"Every year since we were elected in 2012, the number of persons employed has never gone down," Gibson said. "[The Department of Statistics does] the survey twice a year, in May and November, and at no time did the number of persons employed go down. Under [the Free National Movement] police officers were sent home; immigration officers were sent home; customs officers were sent home, [and] ZNS staff were sent home.
"Do you know that last year Atlantis wanted, around September, to send home about 300 employees because of what was happening over there? The prime minister was made aware of it. He sat down with them and negotiated a position where they stayed on the job."
Gibson pointed out that, in 2008, Kerzner International laid off 900 employees from Atlantis.
"When it was their (FNM) time, they said 'Here, send them home, market forces'. That is their position, market forces," he said. "Nine hundred one time, gone. That happened under them. That did not happen under us."
In November 2008, Atlantis laid off hundreds of workers due to low occupancy levels brought on by a poor global economy. Asked about Gibson's revelation that Atlantis had contemplated layoffs last fall, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Ed Fields said in a statement last night, "We had contemplated increasing the amount of seasonal staff reductions in September, October and November in a couple of the towers due to very low occupancies. We worked successfully with government to avoid having to do that."
Baha Mar Gibson also took issue with the heads of agreement between the government and Baha Mar. He said the agreement was amended by the Free National Movement administration to include an agreement that Baha Mar would keep a minimum number of people employed at the resort.
"They never said anything that would secure the jobs of those persons who were already working down there at Baha Mar," he said. "So what did Baha Mar do? They hired a bunch of young people here and there, brought the numbers up and then just paid off the rest and sent them home."
Last November, Crystal Palace laid off 190 employees. In February 2013, Baha Mar fired 140 employees from its Wyndham Nassau Resort, saying that decreased business volume was the driving factor. Gibson said those layoffs could have been prevented.
"It is because of [the FNM's] poorly drafted agreement that caused all of those persons to be able to be sent home while Baha Mar argued that they kept the levels as they agreed to," he charged. "The agreement should have been more definitive with securing the jobs of existing employees."
According to the latest Labour Force Survey, since May 2012, 8,850 net jobs were added to the economy. The number of people employed in May 2012 was 160,650, compared to the 169,500 employed in November 2014, the survey shows.
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