The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The hotel union’s president yesterday said it was “only a matter of time” before other resorts follow Atlantis’s lead in asking staff to “volunteer” to take two weeks unpaid leave amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Darrin Woods told Tribune Business that the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) had engaged the Paradise Island destination resort’s management over the weekend in a bid to “soften the financial impact” on workers who will inevitably see their incomes slashed as a result of the downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking after this newspaper revealed that Atlantis occupancy levels have plunged to 50 percent, compared to the typical high 80 percent to low 90 percent range achieved during the March peak winter period, Mr Woods argued that a “tripartite approach” involving worker/union, employers and the government was the only way to protect the interests of all hotel industry stakeholders.

The timing and content of Atlantis’ message to its roughly 8,000 staff shows just how drastic, and sudden, the fall-off in booking pace and business levels has been following the various travel bans and other shutdowns coming out of the US in a bid to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Karen Carey, senior vice-president of human resources for The Bahamas’ largest private sector employer, presented staff with two options - to either take earned vacation days or “volunteer” to take two weeks’ unpaid leave with immediate effect - as the resort bids to align costs with the unprecedented drop in revenues.

“While our efforts continue and we work on this together, it is now essential and important for us to make changes and take further steps to help us all manage through this as situations evolve,” Ms Carey wrote in her letter.

“To this end, we are asking team members to take earned vacation days or volunteer to take two weeks’ unpaid leave of absence effective immediately. We encourage you to speak with your manager today and confirm your dates.”

Seeking to rally morale, Ms Carey added: “Over the years we have continually demonstrated our enduring values regarding the safety, satisfaction and well-being of our guests and team members. In the current climate, where Covid-19 is impacting everyone globally, it is no different for us....

“We want you to feel absolutely confident that we are doing our best to shoulder the burden of our operations to secure our future and to lessen the burden that this situation imposes on you. We are all in this together, so let’s continue to be resolute and strong. We remain optimistic that we can count on your support and co-operation at this critical time. We will get through this.”

One Atlantis employee, speaking to Tribune Business on condition of anonymity, described the situation as “scary” and suggested the resort was facing “a long period of time before occupancy levels return to normalcy”. Donald Trump yesterday estimated that the upheaval caused by the pandemic could last until August, implying that the Bahamian tourism industry will not recover before Thanksgiving.

“Things ain’t looking good,” they said. “This is unprecedented and is going to be worse than 9/11. You have the cancellation of bookings, and then the slow months of September and October. You have the effect of this virus, and tourism is going to need time to rebound.

“We know we’re looking at a long period of time before we see normalcy in occupancy levels. It’s going to be rough. This is scary. This is really a concern in terms of the economic effect it is going to have on the tourism industry and The Bahamas.”

The Atlantis employee added that the cruise industry’s 30-day shutdown had left the resort facing a ‘double whammy’, as the passengers enjoying day passes to its water park have traditionally filled the gap when stopover occupancies are low. That is not possible now.

“Whenever we see occupancies are low, those cruise ship guests keep on coming,” they said. “That’s a big part of the revenue for Atlantis.”

Atlantis slashed its workforce by 10 percent, or 800 persons, in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse that triggered the full-blown 2008-2009 global recession. There is NO SUGGESTION that the resort currently has plans for something similar this time around, but other Bahamas-based resorts and businesses followed swiftly behind it with similar downsizings.

The Paradise Island resort, which was recently taken off the market after efforts to sell it proved unsuccessful, is now owned by Brookfield Asset Management, an entity even more focused on the bottom line than the previous proprietor, Kerzner International.

The hotel union’s Mr Woods yesterday said he suspected other Bahamian resorts will again follow Atlantis’s lead in reducing work hours as they aggressively bid to slash labour costs, one of the resort industry’s largest expense items, and align them with reduced business levels. Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president, had hinted at such action to Tribune Business on Monday.

“No, but I suspect it’s just a matter of time,” Mr Woods told Tribune Business when asked if other properties will follow the Paradise Island resort’s lead. “Because Atlantis is so big the impact on them is immediate. The smaller properties may be able to go a while longer, but eventually they will have to go the same route.”

Several sources suggested that the British Colonial Hilton has also asked staff to take unpaid leave on similar terms to Atlantis, but Mr Woods said resorts were well within their rights to take such action under the circumstances.

He explained that the last industrial agreement with the BHCAWU permitted hotels, in the event of a sudden business downturn sparked by events such as a hurricane and mass cancellation of airlift, to cut an employee’s work week.

“They have not done anything wrong,” Mr Woods explained of Atlantis, confirming that it had given staff two options. Given that many hotel industry workers have been employed for five, six or seven years, he said it was likely that they had “built-up quite a bit of vacation time” and would be able to utilise that rather than volunteer for two weeks’ unpaid leave.

“The employees will have to make that decision themselves based on their finances and ability to absorb this,” the union president added, revealing that the BHCAWU had held talks with Atlantis management over the weekend to determine what it planned to offer staff.

He added that Atlantis will typically start by closing several restaurants if there is insufficient business to keep all operating, consolidating this aspect of its business into fewer such outlets. All restaurant employees, from both the closed and still-open outlets, are then pooled together and the work hours divided among them, thereby drastically cutting the work week.

Confirming that talks between the union and Atlantis management are ongoing, Mr Woods said the BHCAWU had some proposals that were in “the infancy stage” as to “how we can soften the financial impact on the employees”.

Declining to detail these ideas, he said it was difficult to determine when they should be implemented because of the uncertainty over how long the coronavirus pandemic - and its knock-on effect on the Bahamian tourism industry - will last.

“We are in discussions over how we lessen the blow on employees so at least they know something is being done,” Mr Woods said. “There’s some things we believe are workable, but it’s going to take a tripartite approach between the union, employer and government. I cannot say much more than that.

“We will make sure the interests of the employee, the interests of the employer, and the interests of the country are paramount. We are making sure everyone’s percentage stake in this industry is being looked after.”

Confirming that the coronavirus fall-out has taken priority over negotiations for a new industrial agreement, Mr Woods added: “Everyone is going to be affected. How long can people be off work before it becomes a drain on the government system.

“The main thrust and focus for the union is job security in its totality. We’re in an industry that is volatile in any event. We’ve been down this road before in 2001 with September 11. That was only two weeks and then things started to mellow out. This one is different. As opposed to being isolated to one place everybody will be affected to a different percentage.”