NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Bahamas Hotel Catering & Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) president Darrin Woods said that Atlantis’ recent decision to once again push back its reopening has been met with ‘mixed emotions’ from within his membership.
Woods said employees are now mulling over whether to remain furloughed or seek a redundancy pay out.
Atlantis announced on Friday that it had once again announced a push-back of its reopening amidst the global Coronavirus pandemic and increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the United States.
However, no new date was indicated.
The extended closure comes as the Paradise Island resort was expected to reopen on July 30.
Yesterday, Woods said: “The decision by Atlantis has been met with mixed emotions from the employees because they don’t know when they are going back to work. They are now thinking about making personal decisions.
“They can either continue to be on furlough or be made redundant and be paid out. We have to get with them this week. It seems as if they are prepared to accept a package to at least pay some things along the way as opposed to accepting what NIB offers. We will just have to see.”
He said: “There is an air of uncertainty. If you look what is happening in the United States and that was our concern from day one, if they don’t fix things over there that will be a major concern for us.
“That has turned out to be a fact and until they are able to addressed that situation it will create a domino effect for us. Over the next two weeks or so we will be locked in to see the direction we go in as an industry.”
Make us redundant. This is the ONLY decision to pay US ALL OUT!!! We all have lives, responsibilities, and bills to take care of. This furlough is the reason ppl are being evicted from their apts. Redundancy is how you save us. Pay us out. Allow us to get our lives under control….our finances under control.
To pay out thousands of employees who’ve been there over 10 years, will be a substantial amount of money which will drive the business deeper underground. Not to mention that the establishment is already struggling with overhead expenses so this has to be evaluated from many aspects .those who wish to be paid out are most likely to but I think the employers will place a cap on the amount of people.
Pay us out because at the end of the day ife still goes on .They wanted to lay off a long time but didnt want to pay .Its the workers who are suffering
We pay our NIB thats our money contrubuted .The hotel aint loose a dollar they havent give a raised in
9 or 10 yrs.Why wait for another 3 months to suffer
And still dont have a job.That makes no sense,$150 cant help us ,all the bill collectors looking for they money.
Pay us our redundancy and back pay don’t forget that.
For those who screaming pay us out. How much money are you people expecting? Dame if they do dame if they don’t! How much longer can a few bucks travel you for? Who knows when this thing will blow over? Perhaps we should remain calm and patient. At least until the unemployment benefits are exhausted. Ya never know. Your wish could be just around the corner. Because if the government can no longer support the people Atlantis would have to make a tough decision and that can include leaving the country high and dry. With a staff of that magnitude it would be in there best interest to file bankruptcy or job redundancy. As supposed to financing almost 10,000 staff for months without returns. Plus proper maintenance of the property and other expenditures. The company is also between a rock and a very hard place. It’s a lot of pressure on the country at large. So relax a bit and allow the company until the end of this government unemployment benefits to see what would be the best option. Keep in mind this is a major crisis! So mind your attitude. You may not be entitled.
Isolate the entire property, make employees live on property and allow tourists to come directly to the Resort. Make the resort an official Quarantine Station and get on with it!