WITHOUT DOUBT the joint bargaining for wages and conditions of service in the tourism sector has served Barbados well for decades. The stability of the sector, and its benefits to owners, hotel workers and tourists, since the 1970s in particular, cannot be delinked from the way the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association and the Barbados Workers’ Union have conducted their business.
The decision therefore by the owners of the ultra-luxury Sandy Lane Hotel on the West Coast to break away from the BTHA and declare it will not be bound by the new collective agreement must therefore cause some concern. Unfortunately, Sandy Lane has not been very vocal on the issue publicly, so people will end up coming to conclusions based largely on what the union says.
In dealing with this issue, however, we invite Barbadians to begin from the perspective that Sandy Lane Hotel is within its right to determine whether it will be a part of any grouping of hotels or not. In fact, it would be interesting to juxtapose this against the decision of the BWU not so long ago to withdraw from the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados and to remain outside of that body despite several overtures entreating it to return.
What is critical, however, is whether or not Sandy Lane is prepared to have meaningful one-on-one discussion with the union based on the fact that the BWU is the legitimate representative of the workers. So in essence, the hotel, if it is not a part of the BHTA group, is not obligated to be bound by any agreement of the group, but it is bound to negotiate in good faith with the BWU.
What is also going to be important for the workers and the union is the kind of precedent that is set in dealing with this issue. If Sandy Lane decides that its workers are valued more than other workers in the sector and it determines that it will pay them more we are sure the union will not quarrel.
If, on the other hand, the hotel that commands generally the highest rate of any such property on the island determines that it cannot pay the eight per cent increase workers across the sector will be getting then it will have to set out one hell of a case to convince the union. But that is the nature of wage negotiations.
By their own admission, the BWU and Sandy Lane have had many decades of excellent relations, albeit the majority of those years the property was under different ownership, and now that the island’s tourism sector is turning around after a prolonged slump we cannot afford unnecessary disruption.
We therefore admonish both sides to proceed with the kind of maturity that has traditionally characterised such discussions, ever mindful of the fact that while the BWU and Sandy Lane may be the key players the welfare of a lot more people is at stake.
We reiterate that it is Sandy Lane’s right not to be part of the BHTA, but it is also its responsibility to always act fairly with its workers and their representative, and the union has a duty to demonstrate the maturity for which it has long been known. We cannot speak to the hotel’s financial position, but we do believe that hotel workers, like workers all over this country, have held considerable strain since the island slipped into recession in the late 2000s and they deserve any increase that is due them.
It’s time to sit and talk. Taking hard positions and digging in heels will lead only to a result that will cause unnecessary pain.