Pointing to the ongoing gratuity dispute between Meliá Nassau Beach resort and the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU), South Beach MP Cleola Hamilton yesterday cautioned the government against "signing away" the rights of workers when it enters into contracts with investors. During her contribution to the 2015/2016 budget debate in the House of Assembly, Hamilton made a case for the protection of workers in the country.
"What about the workers at Meliá and their gratuities?" asked, Hamilton, a former president of the Bahamas Nurses Union. It is a blatant display of disrespect just to wake up one morning and take away the workers’ gratuities, Mr. Speaker.
“I always say the administration in Meliá should take a page out of Atlantis' book and learn how to deal with their workers and their workers’ representatives.”
The executives of Baha Mar, which owns Meliá, have been in a stand-off with BHCAWU since the December 10 decision to remove the automatic 15 percent charge from the bills of all-inclusive guests to accommodate the daily rate they pay. Hamilton said the government must do more to look after the workers.
"We need to take care of the working people of this country who sacrifice their blood, sweat and tears, Mr. Speaker...” she said.
“It is the workers who build this beautiful country. Now investors are demonstrating that they have no respect for our workers and the laws of this country. I caution my government, Mr. Speaker, that in its eagerness to entrap investors we must be careful not to sign away the workers’ rights.
"If investors come to our country and insult our workers from the onset, Mr. Speaker, why are we sitting down to negotiate with them? Can't we see that they are insulting us as a people? And we wonder why we have an unemployment problem. When are we going to get it?"
Baha Mar officials declined to comment on the matter yesterday. However, in an April statement, Baha Mar said, “We have repeatedly offered to pay the gratuities to the employees on fair and generous terms that are more generous than other contracts with the hotel union.
“The Ministry of Labour has been tremendous in helping us try to reach even a temporary solution with the union for the payments. Sadly, it remains the union, not the hotel, that stands between the employees and their gratuities. We remain willing and able to distribute the gratuities funds immediately upon an agreement with the union.”
In January, Meliá’s line staff voted to strike in protest of the “unilateral” decision by resort officials to restructure the gratuity rate on the all-inclusive package. However, in February, Supreme Court Justice Roy Jones upheld an injunction against any industrial action by the BHCAWU until the dispute is resolved at trial.
The ruling stated that the resort shows a “high probability of catastrophic financial losses” if unlawful industrial action is taken, and has also shown the “likelihood of unlawful industrial action by the BHCAWU if the injunction is not extended”. The trial, which began in May, is ongoing.
Hamilton also called for some resolution in the matter involving the former City Market employees, who are reportedly owed in excess of $3 million in severance pay alone. The former employees are also looking to be paid monies from the company’s pension fund. Hamilton added that something must be done to assist the CLICO policy holders, who have been awaiting money from the insurance company since it was liquidated over six years ago.
"I just wish someone would garner the intestinal fortitude to deal with these matters," she said.
There were approximately 13,000 Bahamian policies when the liquidation order was handed down in February 2009. Shortly after, then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham advised policyholders to continue to pay on their policies.
Earlier this month, Minister of State for Finance Michael Halkitis said the government has been “exploring a mechanism” to assist the policyholders.
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