By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Around 30 employees were terminated by the Norman’s Cay resort development on Friday, senior labour officials confirmed yesterday, due in part to the closure of a well-known restaurant.

Despite the shuttering of MacDuff’s Beach Bar & Grill, Howard Thompson, the Government’s labour chief, told Tribune Business that he sees “light at the end of the tunnel” for the project with the developer having pledged that past “mistakes” in employee and labour relations will not be repeated.

Around ten, or one-third, of those released by Norman’s Cay are understood to be expatriate workers. The traditional summer tourism slowdown, and cancellation of work permits for three senior expatriate executives, are thought to be other factors behind the downsizing exercise. Tribune Business understands chefs, bartenders, painters, gardeners and persons working in maintenance were among those terminated.

Mr Thompson said he was “fully aware” of Norman’s Cay planned downsizing having been informed of it early last week. He, along with the minister of labour, Pia Glover-Rolle, attended a virtual Zoom meeting with representatives of the developer, “in particular, their legal representatives”, where it was confirmed that past mistakes would not be repeated.

Mr Thompson said his officials will contact the laid-off staff to help them find new employment. They will also visit the remaining workers on Norman’s Cay “at the earliest opportunity to discuss matters with them, and to allay certain fears and concerns they may have, and to assure them that we are aware of the future reorganisation and development of the Cay”.

“It was a very productive virtual meeting where past mistakes by the company were admitted, and a firm resolution for those mistakes to never happen again was confirmed to myself and the minister,” Mr Thompson added.

“We then discussed the number of persons to be affected, and we were provided with a list of those persons including their telephone contacts. So, therefore, it is my intention and the intention of my team at the Department of Labour to start contacting those affected persons to assist them with finding alternative employment.

“We are quite confident they will be able to find alternative employment given the fact that there are so many job opportunities in the hotel and tourism sectors in The Bahamas.” Mr Thompson said neither himself nor his department expects “to receive any further complaints from any of the workers on Norman’s Cay regarding their treatment and breaches of the Employment Act or the Health and Safety at Work Act”.

He added that he was advised Norman’s Cay will see improvements, and there will be more job opportunities available for Bahamians by “late October, early November” which is a busier time in the Bahamian tourism calendar.

“To directly address and resolve all of the issues that plague Norman’s Cay necessitated a full reset and recalibration by the owners and developers, which I support because - moving forward - I nor my department expect to receive any further complaints from any of the workers on Norman’s Cay regarding their treatment and breaches of the Employment Act or the Health and Safety at Work Act,” Mr Thompson said.

“We were advised by the representatives of the company at the Zoom meeting that with the closure of one of the restaurants, and coming into the slow season, that the downsizing was necessary and would have allowed them the opportunity to do a lot of remedial work, in particular, as it relates to the employee housing and communal living accommodations.

“We were further assured and advised that by the time the season picks up in late October, early November, we would be seeing the new improvements as well as there will be a new opportunity to engage and hire more Bahamian workers,” the Government’s labour chief continued.

“I am satisfied that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel, and I am committed to ensuring that Bahamians have the first opportunity and that they are treated with respect and dignity, and all employment and labour laws of The Bahamas are strictly adhered to.”

The downsizing has occurred just weeks after landing and parking fees at the Norman’s Cay airport were adjusted and increased, including the introduction of a new $2,998 “VIP fee excluding VAT” that is said to be “mandatory for all jets” and “optional” for all other types of aircraft. This fee will not apply to hotel and marina guests or club members.

The adjustments appear designed to reduce landing fees, in particular, for international flights that bring in tourists while raising those for local flights. As an example, a local flight involving a 20,000 pound jet will now incur a $798 landing fee as opposed to the $437.80 it has faced since July 2024 - an 82.3 percent increase. But, for an international flight involving the same plane, the fee has dropped from $1,549 to the same $798.

Customs and Immigration fees have been slightly lowered, with overnight parking rates also eased slightly for most aircraft apart from jets weighing between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds and those over 30,000 pounds.

Meanwhile, Chef Diallo Osoria, one of the staff terminated on Friday, who used to work at MacDuff’s, said: “Several months prior we were informed of impending changes to our work schedules, specifically a reduction from our standard 40 to 48 hours to a mere 20 hours per week.

“For those of us stationed on the Cay, working a demanding seven days a week for five-week rotations, a 20-hour workweek translates to, at most, two to three days of actual work. Such a reduction renders our presence on the Cay for the remainder of the week economically impractical, and severely curtails our ability to seek alternative income-generating opportunities.

“During subsequent discussions regarding this proposed reduction, I, along with others, conveyed our understanding that such a drastic alteration to our terms of employment, fundamentally changing our living arrangements and modus operandi could, under the provisions of Bahamian Labour [law], be construed as a redundancy. Despite initial denials of an intent to reduce hours to such an extent, the mass lay-off that transpired yesterday regrettably confirms the trajectory we had foreseen.”

Mr Thompson added: “We will inquire further into this complaint, but I suspect it has a lot to do with the recent closure of the restaurant MacDuff’s and with the loss of business, I am told the company sustained, over the course of the last two months.”

The investigation and inspection conducted on Norman’s Cay a few months ago led to three senior expatriate executives’ work permits being cancelled, which Mr Thompson said “would have impacted the fiscal and business side of their operations”.

However, to his understanding, “a very significant and persuasive proposal and development plan for the restructuring and continued development and expansion of the property was unveiled to the senior members of the Government”.

“We are fully aware of the downsizing exercise that occurred on Norman’s Cay on Friday past,” Mr Thompson said. “We understand 30-odd persons were affected, including about 10 foreign workers. The situation at Norman’s Cay is complicated. However I do see light at the end of the tunnel.

“As you are aware, the Department of Labour and the Department of Immigration - along with the use of the Royal Bahamas Police Force plane - would have conducted an investigation and inspection on Norman’s Cay a couple of months ago.

“That resulted in three senior expatriate executives’ work permits being cancelled. Since that day, the development including the hotel side was being run and operated without senior executives or representatives of the owners of the development, and you can appreciate this would have impacted the fiscal and business side of their operations,” he added.

“Since then, I was advised, the owners - along with their attorneys - would have had a private meeting with senior members of the Government where all issues were discussed including the company’s proposed ongoing development of the Cay.

“It is my understanding that a very significant and persuasive proposal, and development plan for the restructuring and continued development and expansion of the property, was unveiled to the senior members of the Government.”

Ty Glinton, a maintenance worker terminated from Norman’s Cay on Friday, said he was not provided a reason for his firing. He added that those who were terminated were treated like criminals due to the presence of police escorts.

Another source, a painter, speaking on the basis of anonymity, agreed and claimed Norman’s Cay still has many foreign workers who do not possess work permits. Mr Glinton spoke of being given a short window of time between being informed of his termination and packing his belongings to catch a flight off Norman’s Cay.

“We were afforded a mere two hours to gather our personal effects,” Chef Osoria added. “Furthermore, the notification regarding our flight departure at 10.45am was delivered at approximately 9am, allowing barely an hour’s notice.”

Mr Thompson said when calls are made to the impacted persons, he will further inquire about the allegations of police presence and the short period of time provided for persons to gather their belongings. Chef Osoria, though, called out what he considers questionable labour practices within the development that preceded the terminations.

“For a period, Norman’s Cay sought to classify itself in a manner that allowed it to skirt the standard 40-hour work-week for overtime eligibility,” Chef Osoria added. “They attempted to operate under an exception that is typically afforded to hotels, despite not being a conventional hotel establishment.

“This effectively meant that we were often required to work up to 48 hours before qualifying for overtime pay. Only after we brought this discrepancy to light, asserting our rights under standard labour practices, did they revert to the customary 40-hour work week as the threshold for overtime.

“Furthermore, their compensation practices on public holidays were, to say the least, unorthodox and unfair. For instance, if one worked 10 hours on a public holiday, only eight of those hours would be compensated at the legally mandated double-time rate,” he alleged.

“The remaining two hours would be paid at a regular rate, effectively denying us the full holiday premium that is common practice and enshrined in labour regulations. Such tactics are a clear demonstration of a pattern of behaviour that seeks to minimise employee benefits at the expense of fair and transparent compensation.

“While I personally welcome this transition, contingent upon the appropriate and timely disbursement of my earned remuneration, the process by which these lay-offs were conducted was undeniably unprofessional and, frankly, unjust. Many of us have dedicated years of our lives to Norman’s Cay – in my case, two years, and for others, upwards of five years. During this time, we have established roots, accumulated belongings and invested our professional lives.”

Chef Osoria said the termination letters “failed to stipulate the exact severance or redundancy pay we were to receive – a fundamental breach of transparency and, in my view, a contractual oversight”.

“While I sought and received an estimate from my representative at the Labour Board, and subsequently a verbal, albeit slightly varying, figure from management, the absence of this critical information on official documentation is unacceptable,” he added. Chef Osoria said he holds no ill-will towards the developer of Norman’s Cay nor are his comments “rooted in anger”.

“It is particularly disheartening to witness fellow Bahamians, entrusted with positions of authority, seemingly complicit in actions that disenfranchise their own people. The recent mass lay-off under the purported leadership of the current island manager, a Bahamian national, exemplifies this troubling dynamic,” he added.

Tribune Business contacted the island manager, Mr Rolle, for comment. However, calls were declined. Tribune Business also reached out to the director of non–hospitality operations, Richard McCombe, who referred to himself as a “bystander” adding that he has “nothing to do with what all is going on” and that he had no information he could share.