Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Fred Mitchell said he is unsure why Atlantis has decided to engage in a public fight with the government over a proposed development on Paradise Island, but said the Davis administration will not blink in the face of any confrontation.

"The government wants Atlantis to succeed and the public salvo from that side was not appropriate," Mitchell said in a voice note to party supporters.

"When Arthur Hanna was deputy prime minister, he told me that back in '67 there was a hotel union strike just after the PLP came to power at Resorts [International], as Atlantis was then called.

"[The owner] told the government if the strike was not ended by the PLP they would close the property. Mr. Hanna said, 'Well ok, close the property.'

"Now we are a long way from those days. Investors today are social partners. If you face a government down, a government for and by the people, in a public confrontation, no government and certainly not a PLP government can blink."

Atlantis President and Managing Director Audrey Oswell has raised concerns about Royal Caribbean International's (RCI) proposed $100 million beach club project on the western end of Paradise Island. She said the government should ensure a "heightened level of scrutiny and discourse" before the cruise line is given any final approval for the project.

Oswell also urged Atlantis employees to take a stand in relation to RCI's project.

Mitchell said, "The government gave conditional approval to [RCI] subject to the laws and regulations, but before the horse was out of the gate, Atlantis lobbed a bomb saying that they opposed it and went further to ask their employees to lobby against it.

"The result of that pressure by them on the employees was a complaint by the employees to the Department of Labour and now that is being investigated.

"Curiously, the CEO, Audry Oswell, did not come out from behind the curtains this time but dispatched the vice president for PR, a Bahamian face, to say that they did not like the Department of Labour's actions. They suggested it was retaliation."

The Department of Labour launched an investigation into Atlantis after Oswell's statements.

The department is seeking to determine what impact, if any, her communication to staff has had or is having on staff of the resort, which is the largest private employer in The Bahamas.

While Atlantis Senior Vice President for Government Affairs and Special Projects Vaughn Roberts said the resort is "disheartened" by the department's decision, Robert Farquharson, the director of labor, said the department will not be dictated to.

Roberts made the comment last week in response to questions from reporters following an unrelated press conference at Atlantis.

The post Mitchell says Atlantis' comments on RCI were not appropriate appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

The post Mitchell says Atlantis' comments on RCI were not appropriate appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

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