NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association has promised to deliver a second counter proposal by noon today amid the ongoing wage dispute with The Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) Labour Director Howard Thompson has confirmed.
The hotel union contends that members who receive tips are tired of fighting for a pay increase, with union members staging a protest at the foot of the Sidney Poitier Bridge last month as negotiations with The Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association were said to be going poorly.
The union recently stated that its members are now working to rule with further action possible if concerns are not met. Union President Darrin Woods recently indicated that the union is in its second phase of industrial action, a “blackout” period he said could exist indefinitely.
The union wants all members to get a pay increase, saying more than 5,000 employees have been affected by the association’s failure to give a pay increase.
Woods could not be reached for comment yesterday amid unconfirmed reports that Atlantis workers had engaged in a possible sickout. Stephanie St Fleur a union executive dismissed those claims yesterday.
“We don’t know anything about any sickout. They were given a deadline until to see what happens with the contract,” said St Fleur.
Labour Director Howard Thomspn told Eyewitness News: “I am not aware of any work slow down or sick out at Atlantis or any of the other hotel properties that form the Hotel Owners Associations, and I would surprise and equally disappointed if there were as to my knowledge negotiations have not been formally concluded. I and the hotel union executives are awaiting the Hotel Owners Association’s second counter-proposal which they promised to deliver to us before 12 pm Monday.”
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