By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A WEEK before the One&Only Ocean Club reopens to guests, employees at the Paradise Island hotel reportedly have “low morale” because of certain “changes” taking place at the resort, The Tribune understands.

Ocean Club employees told The Tribune that they had “mixed feelings” over the changes being made regarding the day-to-day running of the luxury hotel, which reportedly includes a change in shift rostering as well as changes and additions to the employees’ responsibilities.

The same was confirmed by Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) Secretary General Darrin Woods, who said the “morale is low” amongst One&Only employees. He stressed that the union is still aggressively seeking to meet with hotel officials to resolve the issues.

One&Only is set to reopen on February 14, having temporarily closed in October to repair damage inflicted on the property by Hurricane Matthew.

During the temporary closure, however, One&Only controversially fired more than 60 employees, including management and line staff from the hotel, for “performance based” reasons.

At the time, Ashley McBain, spokesperson for Kerzner International, explained that the hotel was “reorganising our structure and redefining job descriptions across the resort,” which she said would “ensure a streamlining of the guest experience”.

When contacted yesterday, one employee, on condition of anonymity, suggested to The Tribune that workers were not entirely comfortable with any of the new changes. “It’s just basically whatever they say, you don’t have an option,” the employee said. “If you want to work, and keep your job, you just got to do what they say to do.

“It’s a lot of mixed feelings. That’s Bahamians in general. It’s a lot of changes, and we’re going to make a lot of noise. But like I said, if you want your job, whatever they’re saying, you have to do what the say, you have to comply with it.”

Meanwhile, Mr Woods said that as a part of the hotel’s infrastructural “reorganising” mentioned by Ms McBain, the hotel is now seeking to “amalgamate shifts, ,which he suggested has proved to be an uncomfortable adjustment for some, if not all, of the employees.

“We’re understanding the morale is low, because with the new changes that are coming on, let’s say you have (someone) who has been with the company for 25 years and he worked predominantly mornings or only mornings,” Mr Woods said. “He’s now being asked to work late nights and one instance in particular he is being asked to work overnight in terms of the overnight to late night shift, either 11 to 7 in the morning or 12 to 8 in the morning, which is an adjustment for (that person).”

Mr Woods also said that employees are sceptical over their job security, especially after the terminations in December, which involved around 15 per cent of the near 400 employees who worked at the hotel.

This scepticism, Mr Woods said, is prevalent despite sacked employees finally receiving financial assistance from the Bahamas Hotel Industry Management Pension Fund after months of agitating, as well as some employees returning to work prior to next week’s scheduled reopening for “training” purposes.

“I guess it will never probably be lifted to where it needs to be because I guess the flipside would be it took so long,” Mr Woods said of the employees’ morale. “But if it was us just dealing with it by ourselves, not having to get an agreement, it could have been executed pretty much quickly or quicker. But I would say that they would have gotten some assistance, but the thing is they would be looking long term. What is my future on my job, what is going to happen, am I going to be terminated in the same fashion that my colleagues would have been terminated in?

“So the thing for us now is to try to reassure them that there is job security. (But) how can we do that if we can’t sit down and have an open and frank discussion with the employer on one side and the union on the other side to come up with ways in which to achieve this same desired effect that the employer is looking for and the desired effect that the employee is looking for?”

The One&Only Ocean Club closed its doors temporarily to repair damage by Hurricane Matthew in October. The resort lost a number of roof shingles from the Crescent Wing and the Villas during the category four storm and the Dune restaurant sustained serious damage.

The luxury hotel was initially expected to re-open at the beginning of December, but later confirmed that it had delayed its re-opening date to Valentine’s Day this year. At the time, management did not specify what would happen to the 350 staff members in the meantime, but said they and union officials had been informed of the extended period of closure.