The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The hotel union's newly-elected president yesterday said the VAT rate hike had increased the urgency for the leadership to secure a new industrial agreement for its 5,000 members.

Darren Woods, pictured, told Tribune Business that the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) executive team had to "get moving" on a new agreement that would help to mitigate the tax increase's impact on already-stretched workers.

He revealed that the "informal talks" had already been held two weeks' ago with the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association (BHREA), the employer representative, and the union now planned to send it a formal letter outlining suggestions on the way forward.

Mr Woods, meanwhile, added that the union was also speaking to merchants about its proposed 'membership discount cards' in a bid to further alleviate the burden from a VAT-induced increase in the cost of living.

He described the 60 per cent rate increase to 12 per cent as akin to the Government "taking out of the well with nothing going back in, and it's not spinning water".

Pledging to negotiate a registered industrial agreement, which would be legally binding and ensure its terms were incorporated in union members' contracts, Mr Woods said: "With the increase in VAT it's incumbent on us, as a new administration, to get an industrial agreement in place that brings relief to the members.

"As I indicated on the campaign trail, and indicated to the members, it has to be more than an industrial agreement; it has to be a registered industrial agreement."

The VAT increase, coupled with stagnant wages and benefits, will drive all unions - not just the hotel sector - to seek greater compensation when industrial deals come due for renewal. The hotel industry has been without such a deal since 2013, after the previous union leadership failed to submit a new proposal by the specified deadline.

Declining to dwell on the past, Mr Woods said: "We're doing our best. We've had informal talks about what we want to see and how to proceed; informal talks with BHREA. We are going to put a formal letter to them around that. We have our game plan, and the main thing is to get a registered industrial agreement.

"We have to get moving. We have to get moving right away. Some of our membership programmes, the discount card, will bring equity and equality to stretch the spending dollar members have."

He added: "We're trying to get merchants to buy into the programme we have, so our dollars will be able to stretch a bit further even with rising inflation. We have just over 5,000 members, and if we're able to direct a chunk of that to your business, you will be able to make money off the volume coming in even with the rise in VAT.

"We're working aggressively on that now. We recognise what we're faced with. We have to take into consideration the cost of living increase from 2013 to the present. We've had the implementation of VAT, and now the increase in VAT.

"As I see it from the sector I represent, you are taking out of the well, nothing is going back into the well, and it's not spinning water. I can't fault the Government for what they've done; they think it's necessary for the country as a whole. My focus is on the people I represent, how we cushion it, soften the blow they're going to get."