The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Editor

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The hotel union’s president says the newly-signed industrial agreement with Graycliff will give 50 workers a 20 percent pay rise spread over five years and place them in a “more stable position”.

Darrin Woods, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) chief, said the same employees will also receive “improvements” in vacation pay, bonuses and emoluments as a result of the deal the two sides signed on Friday.

He said: “This agreement, as with many, has been outstanding for some time, the last one being 2013. This puts the employees at Graycliff in a more stable position, where they now have a document that governs the behaviour between management and the union.

“It also gives the union the ability now to take matters to another level. And you will see in this new agreement there are improvements in the vacation, there’s improvements in Christmas bonus, there’s improvements in the ham and turkey and, of course, there’s improvement in the wages and emoluments.”

Mr Woods added that employees will received the first pay increase upon the agreement’s signingm and will continue to receive annual rises on the anniversary of the contract signing for the next five years.

He said: “There’s also a lump sum payment that they will get. Once the document is signed, they have decided to make those payments in the very near future.

“As with many of our agreements, these agreements are historic. This one presents a 20 percent wage increase over the next five years, with the first increase coming once the document is signed, and on the anniversary of the day every year thereafter until the contract expires.”

Mr Woods continued: “The benefits in here are membership driven. The members were the ones who told us exactly what it is they want to see. And, like anything else, you don’t always get what you requested, but I believe we went very well on our way in terms of getting most of the things that we would have asked for, and we were able to preserve a lot of the prior benefits that were in there.

“This one is also historic and significant because, once this document is signed and registered, it then forms part of the employee’s individual contract of employment, which means the benefits will continue. From an organisational standpoint, we are pushing membership-driven activities and membership-driven benefits because of the long-term benefits they would reap.”