Barbados Hotel Faces Employee Redundancy Concerns as BWU Calls for Job Security Reform

More than 200 employees at a Christ Church hotel are facing redundancy, Barbados TODAY has learned.

The news was revealed on Friday by Barbados Workers’ Union General Secretary Toni Moore to reporters outside Parliament. Moore did not name the hotel.

Moore brought attention to the redundancies while discussing the ongoing issue of contract work in the tourist accommodation industry, which remains unresolved at the Labour Department. She emphasised that job security should align with the provisions of the Collective Agreement between the BWU and the BHTA, as established during stakeholder symposia last year.

“What we have to continue to focus on, and what is our mission in the BWU, doesn’t stop here with this legislation or the establishment of standards, but we are fighting daily and calling on the workers in the industry to really come out and rally around the issues that impact them,” Moore said.

The BWU head criticised the hotel for allegedly undermining unionisation efforts. She recounted that last October 4, the BWU visited the hotel site, which did not allow its workers to join the bargaining body. Moore claimed the hotel had consulted workers directly, informing them that their contracts were ending and they would be dismissed.

Moore expressed concern that the hotel might advertise a job fair in the coming months, potentially replacing the redundant workers with new hires. She argued that this practice contradicts the long-established agreement in the sector, leaving workers jobless at the end of each season.

“They went and had consultations with the workers to tell them that their contracts are up, they would be going home,” Moore said. “And that same establishment, we are likely to see in two months’ time or so in the newspapers or on social media advertising a job fair, where they will bring in other workers and choose from the ones who went off. They would bring in other workers to do the work that people have been doing.”

“So, what does it mean for these people? So, you come in, and once the season is over, that is where your job security ends, and you are necessarily on the breadline again.”

The BWU is calling for solidarity among all workers in the tourism and accommodation industry, emphasising that the issue extends beyond individual hotels and affects the entire industry.

“Because this is the sector under discussion,” the BWU leader said, “We are making a very special appeal. I hope that workers in the sector will see that this is not only a problem for Sandals and not Sandy Lane; this is not only a problem for Accra and not the Hilton, but this is a problem that all workers in the sector must rally around because it’s about you [which] means that it’s today for me, and tomorrow for you.”

BWU Deputy General Secretary Dwaine Paul echoed his leader’s sentiments but went further to urge those workers who he said “for some reason” have remained on the sidelines to come out in numbers and join the fight.

This is your sector, this is your profession, and there is nobody out there that should stop you from seeking to get the very best for your sector and for yourself as a professional in this tourism industry,” Paul declared.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb