The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Memories Resort in Grand Bahama started the payout process for hundreds of former hotel workers on Wednesday at the Bain Building, in downtown Freeport.

Some were not happy with the payout amounts and complained that payments were less compared to that which they are

entitled under the labour laws.

This comes after five months of uncertainty as the resort operator, Sunwing Travel Group, sought consent by hotel owners for hurricane restoration for its reopening of the 500-room property in Lucaya.

Failing to reach an agreement with its landlord, Hutchison Whampoa, Sunwing was required to vacate the property on January 29, which resulted in the redundancy of more than 400 workers.

Employees began arriving at the payout centre from 8am, waiting in line for the doors to open at 9am to collect their redundancy cheques.

At 11am, the queue of workers had stretched across the parking lot on the northern side of the Bain Building on West Mall Drive. The process was slow and some people had been waiting outside for three hours.

Employees with the surnames starting with letters A-F were scheduled to collect their payments between 9am and 11am, and those with the surname starting with the letters G-L were to collect their cheques from 11am to 1pm.

A female supervisor, who did not wish to be named, claims that her redundancy cheque was short by $2,800. “As a supervisor, I am supposed to get one month’s pay for every year of service, but I was only paid for three weeks. I am a mother and every dollar counts,” she said.

Another female employee who worked in the Food and Beverage Department was told she was not entitled to redundancy pay because the resort had recognised the last date of employment on October 7 - when Hurricane Matthew hit the island last year.

This puts her employment period three or four days short of one year, but she is disputing that.

According to the country’s labour laws, a person must be employed for a period of one year in order to be entitled to redundancy pay.

The woman claims that she was employed over a year and said that her last date of employment should have been on October 17, when she received last pay cheque from the resort.

“I got NIB paperwork from the resort which stated that my last pay cheque was on October 17, and I got (a) Christmas bonus. In our contracts, you are only entitled to the Christmas bonus if you have been employed with the company for 12 months or longer, and now they (the resort) telling me I am not entitled to redundancy,” she said.

The NIB paperwork, she said, had also specified that October 17 was the temporary fixed date until the reopening date of December 30.

Anthemica Duncombe has been employed at Memories since January, 2014, and was relieved to have finally received some word after months of uncertainty. “I learned about the redundancy payout in The Tribune three or four days ago, and I felt relieved because I think it is about time they finally met with us and pay us off,” she said.

Also standing in line was Charles Jones, who was employed for nearly two years at the resort. “I was excited when I thought the hotel was actually opening back up, but now I heard we are going to get pay and … they are not re-opening right now,” he said.

He said the payout process was slow, and felt that it could have been better organised. “I was out here for three hours,” he said. Asked his feeling about being unemployed, Mr Jones said: “It’s rough and you need a job. But I guess … you just have to have faith.”

Leslie Lightbourne, a veteran trade unionist, was happy that the workers are getting paid their money. “I came out to assist those who might have questions concerning their entitlements under the law. And I am learning that some workers did not get the full amounts, and that the resort is using the hurricane date as the cut-off date for employment which has affected some persons in terms of their employment period at the resort,” he said.

He explained that when the resort issued the last pay cheques on October 17 and indicated that it was closing temporarily, it meant that it would be reopening. He stressed that the issue concerning the last day of employment must be cleared up.

Mr Lightbourne, who is also the Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) candidate for Pineridge and the party’s spokesman for labour, said that some tweaks need to be made to the Employment and Industrial Relations Acts.

“The DNA wants to make sure there is fairness and equality in the labour laws, and there are some adjustments we intend to make when we become the next government,” he said.

The resort will resume payouts today to former employees with the surnames starting with the letters M-S from 9am to 11am and T-Z from 11am to 1pm.