By Neil Hartnell

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A former hotel union presidential candidate says industry workers are not feeling the benefits from booming tourism numbers, adding: “We are the ones hurting in this.”

Dave Beckford, who led Team Destiny in its unsuccessful 2013 election bid, told Tribune Business he found it difficult to understand why Atlantis and the major hotels were “having issues” over negotiating a new industrial agreement given that they were performing so well.

Backing the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union’s (BHCAWU) stance over the hotel industry’s offer, he said workers had not seen a pay increase since 2012 despite enduring VAT’s imposition and subsequent increase to 12 percent plus the associated cost of living increases.

However Mr Beckford, who is still a hotel union member despite being second vice-president of the General Workers Union (GWU), expressed concerns with how the current administration headed by president, Darren Woods, had managed efforts to obtain a new industrial agreement with the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association (BHREA) and its members.

He argued that Mr Woods and his executive team should have been “more proactive” in engaging the hotel industry on a new industrial deal immediately upon taking office a year ago, and called on union leadership to fully transparent by disclosing the contents of their counter-offer.

“The workers, we are the ones hurting,” Mr Beckford told Tribune Business. “Employers are going on as business as usual, with hotel arrivals up and at their highest for a long time. Atlantis and the hotel industry are doing pretty well, so I don’t see what the big issue is in negotiating about increases and back pay and benefits.

“There shouldn’t be anything to stop them from negotiating. We have have had two VAT increases, inflation and the cost of living has gone up, yet we are the ones hurting.” 

Mr Beckford, supporting the union’s stance and saying he “never agreed with some of the things the employers wanted to do”, nevertheless said of the BHCAWU: “At the same time I have concerns about the way this administration conducts business.

“We still don’t know what’s in the union’s proposal. Even if we don’t know everything we should know what increases the union is looking for and be able to determine what back pay looks like because the last contract was in 2013.

“I feel he [Mr Woods] should have addressed it maybe earlier. He was general secretary and should have addressed it. I think he should have tried to deal with the negotiations earlier and been more proactive,” Mr Beckford continued.

“Both parties have to get to the table as it’s not going to work well for the workers and not work well for the industry. The minister of tourism, Dionisio D’Aguilar, is going to have to get involved; Dion Foulkes, the minister of labour, is going to have to get involved, and it will probably end up in the Prime Minister’s hands.”

The hotel union is planning to take a strike vote this Thursday after slamming the industry’s proposal to eliminate the automatic 15 percent gratuity and other worker benefits. The hotel employers are also proposing to push the Christmas bonus, currently payable in mid-December, back to mid-January and link its payment to resort performance.

Mr Beckford questioned whether the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association was using a previous Supreme Court ruling, which found that the Melia Nassau Beach Resort was not obligated to pay a 15 percent gratuity for serving all-inclusive guests, as a “precedent” and leverage to extend this to all hotel members of its bargaining group.

The hotels also likely feel they have the upper hand due to the hotel union’s mistake in late 2012. The last industrial agreement between the two sides expired back in 2013, and its terms are being treated as if it is still in effect.

This resulted from the union missing the October 8, 2012, deadline by which it had to submit its proposal for a new industrial agreement - as it was required to do by the conditions set out in the old deal. A new industrial proposal had to be sent 90 days before the current deal expired, and the hotel union - then headed by Nicole Martin - failed to do so.

Looking ahead to Thursday’s strike vote and possible subsequent industrial action, Mr Beckford told Tribune Business: “I would encourage members not to engage in anything illegal as they could be terminated. We saw that happen before, and hopefully it will not happen again. Nobody needs lose their job.”