The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The hotel union's president yesterday said it hopes to conclude an industrial agreement with Graycliff as early as today, adding: "You can see the finish line but we're not there yet."

Darrin Woods, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union's (BHCAWU) chief, told Tribune Business that it "fell short" on its ambitions to conclude all outstanding industrial agreements before 2023 year-end but it was not for lack of trying.

Besides the Graycliff deal, the union is also aiming to close industrial agreements with the Harborside timeshare property and the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association. The latter is the body that represents the wider hotel industry and, in particular, Atlantis which is the property employing the majority of the BHCAWU's line staff members.

Mr Woods told this newspaper that the union is "moving quickly but cautiously" in all its negotiations, trying to balance the pressure from members to conclude agreements with improved financial terms with the need to make sure the text is "right" and binds both parties to what is intended.

Disclosing that the union caught a major omission in the proposed Graycliff agreement just prior to its possible signing, he also revealed that it hopes to begin negotiations with Club Med and the Poop Deck in 2024.

"We fell short on all of them," Mr Woods said of the target to wrap-up all industrial agreement talks before year-end 2023. "We were about to sign the Graycliff one but recognised a very important part was missing. We will hopefully be able to sign that one tomorrow [today].

"We had a meeting with the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association. We're waiting on one or two responses. We had one particular area to iron out just before the holiday. We're really trying to move this along as quickly as we can. We're trying to put another contract together for further vetting."

Mr Woods acknowledged the frustration and impatience of BHCAWU members to complete an agreement with the Association, especially given that the last industrial agreement expired more than a decade ago in 2013.

"The people are getting really tired now," he said. "It's been long but we're trying to push forward. I hate to keep saying it, but hopefully it will be done in short order. It's very wearing. You can be so close and see the finish line but we're not there yet. There's some legal stuff in it that we want to make sure is right because once you sign, you sign.

"We almost found ourselves in a precarious position with the Graycliff one because if it had gone ahead members would have missed out on a major benefit. We're moving quickly but also moving cautiously to ensure members enjoy the benefits of it. We want to make sure everything is right, by the law, what we have negotiated is in the document so that it can be signed off on. Once it's signed it's signed.

"The last final matters for pretty much all of them are the lump sum and payment of it. With Graycliff, we were able to iron that out. We almost missed out one of the most important final packages in it. We ironed that out and hopefully will sign-off tomorrow [today]."

As for Harborside, Mr Woods said the union hoped to meet with the property next week "and hopefully wrap that up. We sent them a proposal, back and forth, before the holidays which they hopefully have approved. We want them to see it and, hopefully, sign off."

Looking ahead to other negotiations in 2024, the BHCAWU chief added: "Last night we were able to get back the recognition agreement from Club Med. That's the first initial step. Club Med recognised us as the bargaining agent and submitted a counter-proposal to our proposal.

"We hope to hear from them in another week on the dates to start negotiations. We hope to travel to San Salvador in two weeks. By then we will be able to sign the recognition agreement, which is a major step, and get dates to start negotiations for their property. These are the things we are working on and will hopefully get them out in the New Year...

"We still also have the Poop Deck that we want to start and get out the way as quickly as we can. We weren't able to start that last year. They've indicated they want to start negotiations in January so we're moving as quickly as we can."