Wednesday, January 15, 2014
By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union was up in arms over allegations of racism among certain executives at the Meliá Nassau Beach hotel.
Union chiefs and members yesterday reported to the hotel’s grounds demanding answers after two managers were terminated on Monday. Eventually, tensions ran high with union officials engaged in a standoff with police officers who were called in by hotel security to escort the group from the premises.
Bahamas Hotel and Catering Workers Union (BHCAWU) President Nicole Martin told The Tribune that the union was not comfortable with the Meliá’s management style.
“There is an issue between the union and the employer,” she said, “Non-bargaining agents were fired. They were managers who were very good and they were terminated. It is my understanding that they were told that if they talked to the union they would be terminated.
“We went to talk to the members and they were very distraught and crying.”
She added that there were persons at the helm of Meliá’s operations who had a practice of “pushing blacks out of the hotel because of skin colour and being questioned on why they were at the hotel.
“People are being asked to leave because they are black. Taxi drivers can’t use the restroom. When a black person is at the lobby bar, employees are being asked why the person is there.”
When contacted, Robert ‘Sandy’ Sands Baha Mar’s senior vice-president of external and government affairs said both employees were terminated for cause. He added that Baha Mar was confident in the management of Meliá and that they would handle the situation according to the labour laws of the Bahamas.
Baha Mar last November announced that it had reached an agreement with Meliá, a Spanish chain to become the new operating partner for its 694-room Cable Beach property. The hotel was previously partly owned by Starwood Hotel & Resorts’ Sheraton.
The move was described by Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe as “significantly enhancing the inventory” of the Bahamas, and potentially opening up Baha Mar – and the Bahamas – to more European visitors.
BHCAWU, Meliá executives and Department of Labour officials are expected to meet sometime today to discuss the matter.
Comments
Cornel says...
They were managers and not members of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union. it's none of the unions business. For some reason this Union thinks that they run all of the hotels.
They can not even run their own Union. The only thing that they have accomplished is to run the Union into the ground financially. They can't even pay their payroll.
Posted 15 January 2014, 3:06 p.m. Suggest removal
GrassRoot says...
raises the question why a union needs to have staff in the first place.
Posted 15 January 2014, 9:09 p.m. Suggest removal
carlh57 says...
Excellent! The union isn't even in the game....and their usefulness in this day and time is outdated and useless....all they do is stir the pot and make themselves sound important/needed...which neither is true....
Posted 16 January 2014, 11:50 a.m. Suggest removal
B_I_D___ says...
Curious...were they 'fired'...as in fired with cause and no pay, or were they paid out their full severance package and made redundant? If they were paid their full severance package, the union needs to shut the hell up and start stirring up crap...especially since it does not impact one of their union members anyways. Maybe...just maybe, these managers were bending some rules that benefited the union members and that's why they are up in arms...who knows...just more curious as to whether they got paid their severance or flat out fired with no pay.
Posted 15 January 2014, 4:08 p.m. Suggest removal
carlh57 says...
From insiders that's what i've heard.....they got away with a lot when Sheraton was running it...now they are being held accountable for their actions....which is about time, since that hotel (under Sheraton running) never made a cent of profit the whole time!....
Posted 16 January 2014, 11:52 a.m. Suggest removal
sheeprunner12 says...
**ANOTHER DAY ON THE MODERN PLANTATION**
BEWARE NEGROES
NEW OWNERS IN TOWN
ECONOMIC APARTHEID ON "THE RIVIERA"
Posted 15 January 2014, 4:24 p.m. Suggest removal
CommonSense says...
Shut up with this ignorance.
Posted 15 January 2014, 7:04 p.m. Suggest removal
sheeprunner12 says...
COMMONSENSE
Any country who bases its economy on a tourism "monoculture" is stupid.
If you know what I mean
Posted 15 January 2014, 8:31 p.m. Suggest removal
GrassRoot says...
so is the racism involved anti-black or anti-Bahamian? or is it nationalism? I heard the terminated managers will be replaced by African Americans, so what is it now? Watch your language Unions.
Posted 15 January 2014, 9:06 p.m. Suggest removal
carlh57 says...
Oh poor little Bahamians… Racism?… oh you mean racism that is Brought on by accountability, having to work, responsibility?. Welcome to the real world Bahamian's...go crying to your union mama's and tell what the mean old business owner is making you do now! Am sure there is more to come from businesses (regardless of their nationality or color) on the bahamian worker! I will take one jamacian, haitian over 5 bahamianas anyday...
Posted 16 January 2014, 10:45 a.m. Suggest removal
Emac says...
Again, an unfair statement- We really need to move beyond this generalization thing. Someone mentioned on another column in this paper how all Frenchman act a certain way. Not all Bahamian workers are the way you described here. Even if the majority act that way, you still can't throw everyone in one basket. @sheeprunner12- I agree it is stupid to even think that tourism will always keep us stable financially. The world is changing but we're not.
Posted 16 January 2014, 11:03 a.m. Suggest removal
carlh57 says...
I'm assuming your comment on the generalization of workers and their work ethic...correct? If so, I have to agree my statement was too broad....however I know, and have worked beside, some hard working, honest, respectful Bahamians...however they are harder and harder to find in this day and time.
Posted 16 January 2014, 11:46 a.m. Suggest removal
Emac says...
Agreed
Posted 16 January 2014, 12:01 p.m. Suggest removal
B_I_D___ says...
I've come across MANY Jamaican workers who are just as lazy and maybe even more corrupt and thieves at the end of the day...Haitian, not so much. Knock on wood, had a pretty decent run with the Haitians we've worked with. But, I am sure there are a bunch of bad apples out there as well!!
Posted 16 January 2014, 12:56 p.m. Suggest removal
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