NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Bahamas Hotel and Employers Association (BHEA) president Russell Miller said yesterday “strong progress” is being made on negotiating a new labour contract with the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU), with the Supreme Court upholding an injunction barring the union from industrial action.
”We continue to make strong progress on negotiating a new labor contract with the Union. We have mutually agreed to and signed 40 of the 48 non-financial sections of the agreement.We are pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the injunction. We believe labour action is not only unlawful, but also unwarranted while BHEA is fully engaged in negotiating with the Union with the shared goal of a signed agreement. The injunction does not prevent negotiations from continuing. All negotiations to date regarding the industrial agreement have taken place off-property and will continue to do so,” said Miller yesterday.
Atlantis had obtained an emergency injunction barring the union from further industrial action following a Thanksgiving Day protest at the resort. Atlantis, the country’s largest private sector employer slammed the action as “unlawful”. Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar also expressed extreme disappointment with the union’s actions, noting that the country’s tourism sector is at a sensitive stage post Hurricane Dorian.
BHCAWU president Darrin Woods said the demonstration signaled looming industrial action as workers were frustrated with the Bahamas Hotel Employers Association’s (BHEA) ineffective posturing on labor issues. Atlantis executives however contended that ongoing labour negotiations between the union and the Bahamas Hotel Employers Association (BHEA) were progressing well.
The resorts that are members of the BHEA bargaining unit are Melia, Atlantis, Ocean Club, Harborside, the British Colonial Hilton, Lyford Cay Club and Towne Hotel. Significantly, Sandals Royal Bahamian, SuperClubs
