By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The hotel union’s president has predicted “there are going to be some very happy campers” after the newly-signed Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) deal gave line staff a 36 percent pay rise spread over five years.

Darrin Woods, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union’s (BHCAWU) president, told Tribune Business that its estimated 350 members are receiving “in just the first year of this contract” what they gained during the entire previous three-year industrial agreement that expired in 2015.

Hailing the new deal, signed with operator Restaurant (Bahamas) last Wednesday, as “historic”, he added that the terms and conditions secured will enable KFC workers “to increase their standard of living” amid The Bahamas’ ongoing struggles with inflation-fuelled price increases.

And, calling on staff to deliver customer service that matches their improved pay and benefits, Mr Woods told this newspaper that the union has partnered with the Bahamian KFC franchise to help train staff and boost service delivery. He explained that BHCAWU representatives will be in involved from the moment new staff undergo orientation to ensure the recruits understand the importance of team building.

The union president also reiterated his belief that the KFC industrial agreement’s signing will spark “a domino effect” that results in all other BHCAWU negotiations being concluded favourably before the upcoming Christmas season. He revealed that the deal with Best Western/Bayview has been finalised, and its now being “vetted”, while talks remain ongoing with Graycliff.

“We signed that last Wednesday,” Mr Woods confirmed of the KFC industrial agreement. “It’s a five-year agreement. It has in it a 36 percent increase in salary coming in over four of the five years. There were some salary anomalies for the grade two workers that we were able to get adjusted.

“We got a significant increase for them. That category was supposed to go away from 2015, and that will now happen, with the eventual elimination of the two tier class of workers. There is a salary increase in the first, third, fourth and fifth years, with nothing in the second, which is historic.

“The last contract we got one increase, and the maximum number of increases ever in a contract is two. What we got in the first year of this contract is what we got in the whole five years of the previous one.”

Mr Woods said that, as per recent Industrial Relations Act changes, the terms and benefits from the new industrial agreement will be incorporated into the individual employment contracts of unionised KFC staff. There will also be compensation provided to workers who help train new recruits and trainees.

The union president acknowledged that the KFC negotiations did become contentious at one point, with members on ‘go slow’ and ‘work to rule’ for several days as the talks neared a climax. The industrial action ended after Restaurants (Bahamas) significantly improved its lump sum payment offer.

The union had objected to $800, representing $100 for each of the eight years since the last KFC agreement expired in 2015, but the terms were improved such that its members will receive 60 percent of this lump payment, which has been guaranteed, “upfront” with the 40 percent balance to paid in years three and four.

“These are historic in every sense of the word,” Mr Woods added of the industrial agreement’s contents. “We recognise the negotiations were contentious because they took far longer than they normally take. It puts our people in position to increase their standard of living, and we expect their service levels to increase because of training.

“The union has partnered with KFC so that when they have their orientation we have someone from the union, John Maxwell, do a training session with them on team work, team building. That’s not something you hear from a union. Training, continuous training on relationship building, team building, leadership development and the like.

“What we have also said to our members in KFC is that the persons who patronise KFC, they deserve the utmost level of service. We expect for them to provide, now we have been able to negotiate and accomplish what we have accomplished, which is historic in terms of emoluments and benefits they’re receiving, service that is commensurate with that.

“We are glad to know this one is behind us, and we believe there will be a domino effect.” Mr Woods said the industrial agreement with Best Western was finalised last Friday, and is now being vetted by attorneys, while the BHCAWU is “waiting on Graycliff’s document to come back for us to peruse.

“When it comes back with changes they’ve asked us to look at, hopefully we can sign that,” the BHCAWU president said. “We’re also waiting for the document from the Bahamas Hotel Restaurant and Employers Association (BHREA) to bring that to a conclusion.” The major resort involved in that negotiation is Atlantis.

“Hopefully we will be able to sign the majority of the outstanding contracts before the end of the year,” Mr Woods enthused. “They all seem to be moving in the right direction. All of our agreements were held up in the same place; they [the employer] had taken the same position.

“Now the legal position is covered, everything is moving full steam ahead, with us winning the significant concessions and agreements. We believe that, in the next few weeks, there are going to be some very happy campers for the most part. At the end of the day we are not going to be able to do something that pleases everybody, but believe the majority will be very happy.

“Even if it takes long, we believe the benefits are still good. We started out the year very rocky and rough, and we’ve endured some turbulence, but it has mellowed and levelled out now.”