The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie yesterday slammed trade unionists for threatening an imminent strike at Freeport’s Grand Lucayan resort, arguing that such action “makes no sense” if the workers’ best interest was their priority.

Delivering the main address at the 18th annual Grand Bahama Business Outlook, Mr Christie called for greater collaboration between the Government, private sector and trade unions.

He added that it was necessary for the three sides to unite in tackling any workplace challenges that arise.

Mr Christie said: “There are other islands and other people who are competitors. In the Bahamas, whether government, businesses or trade unions, we must come to understand that we are all together in this, and when we have challenges we have to find the best formula to work out those challenges.

“One doesn’t have to look far and wide to know what Hutchison’s attitude is. It doesn’t make sense to utter threats if you are working in the best interest of workers. You have to sit with the Government, the Government sits with the owners, and we try to reach an accommodation in the best interest of the workers.”

Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, told Tribune Business that the Ministry of Labour had issued the ‘certificate’ ratifying the Commonwealth Union of Hotel Services and Allied Workers’ vote to strike on Monday.

He said the union’s members were poised to strike “any day now”, although he hinted that there was room for “intervention” by both employer and the Government.

The strike threat comes as Hutchison Whampoa, the Grand Lucayan’s owner, seeks to market the loss-making mega resort property to potential buyers.

Mr Christie added yesterday: “We are competing with other destinations, and nine times out of 10 we are more expensive. We have to find a way to understand our obligation to future generations and people who invest in this country by working hard and maximising on the return from our workforce towards ensuring that investments will survive.

“Every day we are watching the gains in other countries. We cannot segment ourselves into silos. We have to integrate and co-ordinate our approach to these things.”

While unlikely to be a ‘deal breaker’, the state of industrial relations at the Grand Lucayan will be an unwanted complication to efforts to sell Grand Bahama’s sole mega resort property.

Mr Christie’s warning to the TUC and its Commonwealth affiliate is likely a reference to the fact that the Grand Lucayan has incurred consistent operating losses of between $10-$20 million per year since opening in 2001, forcing Hutchison Whampoa to subsidise the property by injecting millions of dollars annually.

Thus the keeping the resort open could be seen as an ‘act of charity’ by the Hong Kong-based conglomerate, which complained about the relatively high cost of Bahamian labour - and associated productivity - when it met with the Government in London pre-Christmas 2015.

Mr Ferguson, though, argued that the Grand Lucayan’s current management/ownership were adopting “a very hard position” towards the Commonwealth union, and negotiations between the two sides had reached an “impasse”.

He added that the resort was seeking “to go back in excess of 20 years” in terms of the benefits that it wanted to strip from line workers, who are represented by the union.

“It’s been a bargaining impasse,” Mr Ferguson said. “The company’s position in writing to us is that they want to discontinue the employee aid fund.”

He explained that this fund provided financial assistance to Grand Lucayan workers when an emergency arose, and said the resort also wanted to “discontinue” the employee pension and ‘health and welfare’ funds.

Mr Ferguson added that the Grand Lucayan was also seeking to cut the workforce’s Christmas bonus from two-and-a-half weeks’ pay to one week, plus a $75 voucher.