Union chief claims “historic” legal move over Sandals closure

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE 500 and more employees of Sandals Royal Bahamian were yesterday urged by their union representatives to exercise patience as “the law of the land will vindicate them” while blasting the resort for failing to address employees on an impending two-month closure.

The Bahamas Hotel Maintenance and Allied Workers Union (BHMAWU), which falls under the Trade Union Congress (TUC) umbrella, has since 2009 been seeking to negotiate an industrial agreement. Yesterday, Sandals Royal Bahamian general manager Gary Williams and the resort’s financial controller Ronnie Mirza both appeared in a magistrate’s court for failing to negotiate with the union, unlawfully terminating several union executives and intimidating union executives.

The men pleaded not guilty and were each granted $5,000 bail with one surety.

TUC president Obie Ferguson called yesterday’s proceedings “historic”. “It is a very special and historic day for the workers of this country,” he said. “What this shows the Bahamas is that the multi-national and trans-national corporations that come to this country do not dictate to us. I want to say to the workers of Sandals to relax, the law of the land will vindicate them at the end of the day.”

Mr Ferguson again slammed the resort for its abrupt closure notice, noting that it was just days before the back-to-school period. It is understood that the all-inclusive Cable Beach property will be closing its doors on August 15 with plans to re-open on October 13; however union executives said yesterday that Sandals had still not met with them or spoken to the employees regarding the closure.

In a recent letter from Gary Sadler, Unique Vacations’ senior vice-president of sales, which was seen by Tribune Business, the resort blamed “circumstances” beyond its control for the pending closure and offered affected guests a chance to re-book their stays with any of the resort chain’s properties throughout the Caribbean.

The letter read: “We appreciate your patience as we work through this challenging time. We have instituted a streamlined and efficient course of action for these guests who may be affected and are extending all of our call centre resources to you.”

Donnell Ferguson, president of the BHMAWU, said yesterday that Sandals’ by its actions had disrespected the Bahamian government and the union. “Justice will prevail. The union is working around the clock along with our advisors for the employee’s benefit. They have to just hold on, help is on the way,” she said.

“Sandals has not spoken to the union about what is happening. No worker to this day knows anything, not a word. Clearly it was a deliberate act to divert the guests so as to lower the occupancy levels so that they could go to the government and say that they have to lay off works. We have not heard anything form the government since this story broke.”

Comments

themessenger says...

I hope the Sandals employees will feel vindicated when Butch Stuart finally says I've had enough of this bull s...t, just close the place and lets move on.
Greedy union leaders have over the years caused the Bahamas to be slowly squeezed out of the tourism market with their ever increasing demands for more more more while their members increasingly deliver less and less.
Astronomical overheads, small profits, tiefin employees, anal union leaders,who the hell in their right mind would want to be a hotelier in this country?

Posted 11 August 2016, 3:05 p.m. Suggest removal

banker says...

Goodbye Sandals. Goodbye jobs.

Posted 11 August 2016, 3:29 p.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

Sandals do not do unions ............... Obie, the writing is on the wall for yall ............. the Yardie boss will sell this and move on to another investment ......... Sandals doesnot need the Bahamas

Posted 11 August 2016, 3:40 p.m. Suggest removal

Alex_Charles says...

This has been going on for years. A deal is one thing but greed is another. This is the dangerous and counter-productive side of unions. Now all the dues those members paid to their union bosses will start to seem mighty pointless when you're out of a bloody job for 2 months. there are ways to negotiate, but looking from the outside in, they aren't the best negotiators for the Workers. Now only essential staff and security have jobs. I hope people took severance packages.

Posted 11 August 2016, 3:57 p.m. Suggest removal

Honestman says...

The "writing is on the wall" I fear.

Posted 11 August 2016, 4:05 p.m. Suggest removal

BMW says...

Well the multinational and transnational corporations will go elsewhere. These corporations dont need the bullshit of having to deal with unions who want to dictate to them. It has been said before that low productivity and high labor costs are major concerns of these corps, not to mention all the tiefen. You can bet your bottom dollar sandals is out of here!

Posted 12 August 2016, 6:01 a.m. Suggest removal

Sickened says...

Point 1) Sandals may leave but the building will stay (be sold);
Point 2) The once criminal numbers boys will buy the property and then either keep it for parties on the weekends or lease it to the government so that they can run it into the ground.

Posted 12 August 2016, 9:09 a.m. Suggest removal

Bahamaland says...

Sandals record in the Caribbean is the same in the Bahamas...the managers are treated good and the line staff are just that. Sandals will not be going anywhere because The Bahamas contributes a big profit to their bottomline.

Posted 12 August 2016, 9:26 a.m. Suggest removal

MonkeeDoo says...

Don't bet on not leaving. They wanted to have their worldwide IT based here but needed 30 permits & guaranteed 30 Bahamian matching IT jobs. The Government said NO so their huge IT group is somewhere in the USA. Bahamian's who think the world revolves around the Bahamas should think again.It doesnt.

Posted 14 August 2016, 5:04 p.m. Suggest removal

banker says...

At Sandals, the IT is provided in Florida by San Services, a captive IT consulting firm specifically for Sandals. The junior Java developers are paid USD $80,000 per year. Their database guys make $100,000+. Pity. The economic offset alone would be around $50 million in the local economy if those jobs came here. And, big doors swing on small hinges. It might have been the thin edge of the wedge for the creation of a knowledge industry segment of the economy.

Sandals does Business Intelligence -- analyzing data on a daily basis. They were losing market share in the Bahamas to Atlantis and Disney (various - cruise, tourist destinations). They suffered downturns in their key metrics -- customer demographics, brand loyalty etc.

With the focus on experiential tourism, there is nothing in the Bahamas to match, say the Sandals waterpark in Jamaica.

With the egregious behaviour by the unions, Shame Gibson etc, these things may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Gibson was saying something like: "Can you imagine declaring redundancies a few weeks before school starts?". He needs a reminder that businesses in the Bahamas are not here to provide jobs. They are here to make a profit. That is the sole reason for a business.

All this to say -- I wouldn't bet on Sandals staying in Nassau.

Posted 15 August 2016, 1:10 p.m. Suggest removal

MonkeeDoo says...

Cable Beach is becoming a dessert. 2500 employees at Baha Mar now 500 here. No doubt the government will pay these laid off employees until they are employed again. Sandals will be a good spot for the PLP convention in November though.Maybe China Exim Bank wants to buy it.

Posted 14 August 2016, 5:12 p.m. Suggest removal

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