|
|
|
|
Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 The Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort’s management just made a public spectacle out of The Bahamas, making the government of the day look like fools in the process and embarrassing our country in front of the entire world.
Unless you were glued 24/7 to the Olympics coverage, the world has now heard about the firing of over 600 employees at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort just a few short days ago. What may also be as equally surprising is that they also plan to re-hire the same staff, or some of them, within the next two weeks!
Speaking to an associate of mine before the mass firing at Sandals took place they mentioned to me that they had received word to start work at Sandals in November of this year. I took nothing of note in a somewhat “light conversation” aside from being happy for them because they desperately needed employment. However, upon now hearing that Sandals not only fired 600 of their employees, but also just now put out an advertisement recalling the 600 persons they just fired to a job-fair with the possibility of being rehired, the DNA is left perplexed as to why did Sandals decide to fire these people in the first place?
Speculation swirls as to why Sandals did what they did. The official line from the Resort was that they wanted a chance to undertake $4 million worth of renovations at the Resort during this historic Tourism soft season. The amount doesn’t seem like much to spend on renovations at the Resort, considering the size and scope of the property. Others have alleged that it is clearly union busting by the Resort, particularly when the ownership has been locked in intense union battles over the course of the last 5 years.
Whatever the reason for the firing massacre, most Bahamians are clear on one thing: Firing 600 employees in one pop only to claim to wish to rehire them again is just not a good look for The Bahamas, particularly when the management of Sandals have been embroiled in a bitter court battle with the Bahamas Hotel Maintenance and Allied Workers Union (BHMAWU) over the right to recognize the union wishing to represent the workers at Sandals for over 5 years now and maybe longer. Especially now coming off of the heels of what was an embarrassing situation of having Sandals management brought before the courts and charged with failure to negotiate with the recognized union representative on record for Sandals, suggesting that it was payback to the union friendly Sandals employees would be a very easy thing to say.
The other Hotel Union, Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers (BHCAW), through its President, Nicole Martin, has chastised the BHMAWU over their mishandling of the workers at Sandals, causing this disruption and in effect the firing of over 600 workers. We call for solidarity between both unions, as one side, the BHMAWU, are at least trying to unionize the workers at the Resort and sticking with the matter at all cost while the other side, the BHCAW, had given up on their efforts years ago and could have helped to have resolved this matter before it got to this unholy mess and especially considering that the BHCAW is the larger, more recognized union in terms of membership and clout.
Regardless of whatever the issues are, we find the move to be discouraging, reckless and inconsiderate in addition to raising questions about the weakness of our labour law regime and how badly this current administration has handled these affairs, especially when the current Minister for Labour, Shane Gibson, is a former union leader known for being very aggressive in his approach as a union leader.
It is particularly reckless and dangerous on not just what Sandals did, but how they did it. Considering that The Bahamas is in a tense situation with international ratings agencies; facing international and domestic calls expressing the lack of confidence in our country-systems adding to more of an incentive for us to be downgraded until true structural reform is initiated by a government that understands that it needs to be done; and now with this move by Sandals along with this government’s slack-bellied approach to the matter, it is clearly evident that primary laws and regulations in The Bahamas are weak, intentionally cumbersome and the nature of the political directorate is arbitrary in their management of our affairs, at best.
The DNA is watching with interest if whether or not persons who will not be rehired by Sandals were the ones that were union friendly and supportive and unashamedly so, or if whether or not the rehired staff would have been made to sign contract waivers stating that they must agree to not joining a trade union or having any affiliation or membership in a trade union.
The DNA feels that at the very least firing persons, only to rehire them, forcing them to sign deeds of release in order to rehire them and essentially breaking their terms of service, putting in jeopardy their pensions savings, insurance schemes and National Insurance record may be illegal.
The DNA also feels that a case can be made that this mass firing tactic by Sandals is indeed union busting and goes against our country’s constitution in Article 24 (1) that clearly states that no one shall be hindered from joining a trade union unless his consent is given.
The DNA is of the view that The Bahamas Hotel Association (the employer association of Sandals), in addition to and in conjunction with the government, could have done more to add their industry knowledge and clout to the matter at Sandals and these on-going and concurrent issues, giving light to advancing the cause for sensitive labour relations and also to the particular seasonality issues that the tourism sector faces and how best we can put initiatives to the table to ensure that we have order in our main industry for all parties involved.
At the very least this is a national failure of our country’s labour regime, particularly when the sitting administration claims to be the champion of worker rights and the entire labour movement in particular.
We must ensure that this does not happen again, both the lengthy court battle between union and employer and a mass firing of any sort without having been considerably informed on what steps could be taken to avoid such a disruption on such a massive scale. The DNA wishes to state that upon being made the government, we will strengthen our labour laws by:
1. Ensuring that the current Industrial Agreement and other relative/relevant acts have within them mandates that employers must show a clear and consistent track record of irrefutable evidence to the powers that be that definitively details, with regard to both quantitative assessment and behavioural reprimand logs, that an employee should be released from his place of employment without having the proper compensation being paid to him as by the law.
2. Fired and rehired staff must be brought back to “normal” upon their rehiring and that a break in their terms of service for under a certain period to be determined, in addition to making them “whole” with the terms of service gaps filled in by the said employer at the employer’s expense. We will revise and upgrade the relative pensions and insurance acts to reflect this particular arrangement now being addressed by our government.
3. Companies with a staff size of over 200 employees must show records of their companies financial performance to the government so as to put the government and their relevant employer association in the best position to determine if mass firings without due compensation can be mitigated against based on financial performance and other performance indicators, or if a company is under threat of closure or winding up business for good and further putting the government in a position to make better determinations on company and sector performance for the long term.
4. Make it illegal for any employer to force prospective employees to sign waivers of consent that they will not join a trade union, ask if they are a part of a trade union, or be barred due to past association with a trade union or any association that is deemed personal, an invasion of privacy or simply a tool to be used against workers.
5. We will mandate that companies in the tourism sector of a particularly significant capitalization and staff size must negotiate with the government, relevant trade union and employer association on any particular developments that would shape the direction of the entity, whether it is a newly established entity looking to do business in The Bahamas, an entity tied to a larger, parent entity already in operation and existence, or an entity that makes decisions on expansion or reduction that would affect the workers of that entity and affect the good standing and reputation of The Bahamas and the particular sector they represent.
We feel more could have been done to save this situation. The DNA is committed to healthy growth of our country, both respecting trade unions and the employers in addition to their relevant employer associations. While we understand business must do what they have to do, but to the extent it is deleterious to the body of The Bahamas as a whole, government must act to ensure persons are not abusing the privilege of being in a stable, free and unfettered jurisdiction like The Bahamas.
Youri Kemp
DNA Candidate for Garden Hills
DNA Spokesperson for the Economy and Finance
© Copyright 2016 by thebahamasweekly.com
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
