The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Baha Mar last night urged the hotel union to “urgently” resume negotiations to resolve the Melia gratuity dispute after the Supreme Court extended the ban on all industrial action to February 11, adding that there were “no winners” in the current impasse.

Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president of government and external affairs, told Tribune Business that the resort owner, and Melia’s operator, were willing to meet with the union “for as long as necessary” to produce a solution.

Pledging that the resort was open to meet with the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) “at any time”, Mr Sands said the gratuities owed to Melia employees - currently held in escrow - would be released the same day that an agreement was sealed.

He argued that the Baha Mar/Melia proposal would result in a fairer, more equitable distribution of gratuities for all the resort’s employees, as some staff currently earned a “disproportionate” amount in comparison to their colleagues.

Speaking after Justice Roy Jones yesterday extended the injunction prohibiting all forms of industrial action by the hotel union in relation to the Melia dispute, Mr Sands told Tribune Business that it barred both legal and illegal forms of labour unrest.

“At this point in time, there are no winners in this arrangement, absolutely no winners,” Mr Sands said.

“We want our employees to take their equitable share from the gratuity earnings. We urge the union to come back to the table expeditiously, and we are willing, and able, to resolve this matter as soon as possible.

“We are hopeful that they would see there are no winners in this, and the only way this is resolved amicably and quickly is for the parties to get back to the table,” he added.

“We are ready now to meet for as long as is necessary, and at any time, to resolve this matter.”

Mr Sands said Baha Mar and Melia believed they could work with the hotel union to agree a gratuity “distribution” that was “fair to all, and demonstrate that the majority of persons will see increased benefits”.

Tribune Business understands the dispute revolves around the calculation and allocation of gratuity payments between employees and the Melia’s all-inclusive resort.

While unable to give a figure for the total sum Baha Mar is now holding in escrow for gratuities, Mr Sands said this would grow as Melia’s business increased.

“This is a matter we want to resolve as quickly as possible,” he reiterated. “We need to get the parties back to the table urgently to ensure our staff benefit.

“We really want to a workable solution to pay employees their gratuity and increase the Melia’s business.

“If we agree today, we can pay the money out today. We will pay out to employees immediately on resolution,” Mr Sands told Tribune Business.

“There is no question in our mind that there are a number of workers making a disproportionate amount in tips in relation to the majority of staff.”

Mr Sands said the Baha Mar/Melia proposal would “normalise” the gratuity scheme and ensure the benefits were shared more broadly and equitably.

He added that it was in the wider interests of the tourism industry and country for the dispute to be resolved promptly.

Tribune Business previously revealed how Baha Mar and Melia’s operator raced before the Supreme Court on Christmas Eve to obtain an injunction to block all forms of industrial action.

The injunction’s terms were designed to be ‘watertight’, and prevent the hotel union from initiating any form of industrial action. It cannot even tell its members to withdraw their labour by staying at home.

The injunction, seen by this newspaper, prevents the union - and all its executive officers and members - “from inciting and/or inducing any employees of the Melia from abstaining from work, or from picketing or besetting the Melia, or intimidating employees of the Melia or its guest whosoever, or from in any way impeding employees of the Melia from attending work”.

The all-encompassing nature of the injunction, obtained for Baha Mar and Melia by Harry B Sands & Lobosky partner, Ferron Bethell, is such that it impacts non-parties to the action.

Its terms warn that persons aware of the injunction, and who breach its terms, will be guilty of contempt of court and subject to “imprisonment, fines or having their assets seized”. Such sanctions would thus apply to Melia staff who act on their own accord, and not at the union’s behest.

The injunction has effectively stripped the hotel union of all industrial-related leverage in relation to the gratuity negotiations. However, Baha Mar argued that it was left with little choice, after 10 months of negotiations produced no agreement, with it then having to tolerate two illegal work stoppages.

The union’s position is that Baha Mar cannot unilaterally vary the employees’ gratuity rates and payments. It also views the situation as part of a broader attempt to remove the union from the Melia and wider $3.5 billion development.