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Letters | Opinion | Editorial | Weekend Report |
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BHCAWU wants terminated, redundant workers for new Atlantis jobs By KEVA LIGHTBOURNE ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ kdl@nasguard.com: The Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) has planned a meeting with Atlantis officials to discuss who will be eligible to fill the 200 job openings the resort expects to make available later this year. The resort announced this week that it will be looking for people to fill positions at two new facilities — the Seagrapes Restaurant and a new Kids Club. "When I got the information about the 200 jobs they are talking about creating at Kerzner, I immediately spoke with Senior Vice-president of Administration J. Barrie Farrington, because my predecessor (Roy) Colebrook indicated that one of the provisions for those persons that were made redundant or terminated November of last year, (was) that if any new job opportunities came up those persons would be among the first to be considered," said BHCAWU president Nicole Martin. "I spoke with Farrington and we are going to schedule a meeting to address that in particular with Senior Vice-president Human Resources Karen Carey." Martin said the union intends to ensure that the terminated workers are given priority. "That was the basis that the former president would have agreed to termination or redundancies, and this union is going to do everything within our power to ensure that those former workers are given every opportunity, simply because in a lot of cases those were not what you would call the worst employees," she said. "They were just employees that were selected for one reason or the other. So we are going to ensure that they have the chance to regain their employment." Last November, amid worsening economic conditions, Atlantis laid off 800 workers. According to resort officials, the reduction was based on significant lower occupancy levels due to the poor global economy. The majority of the laid-off workers included line staff employees who fall under the bargaining agent of the BHCAWU. On Monday, President and Managing Director of Kerzner International Bahamas George Markantonis said that by December, the resort would reopen Seagrapes Restaurant and a second Kids Club. He said 140 people would be hired at the Seagrapes Restaurant, while 40 to 70 people would be needed for the Atlantis Kids Club. Markantonis said the available positions would be open to everyone, including those who were laid-off when the restaurant closed about two years ago. Several people have already been hired and the facilities are expected to open despite projections that 2010 will be a flat year for the resort, he said. Martin said the new job openings are welcomed news to the union, which has suffered a collapse in its membership over the past year after hundreds of hotel workers throughout the country lost their jobs as a result of the global recession. "Any time we talk about additional employees, of course, that is good news for the union but more importantly it is good news to the industry," she said. "Because if we are talking about job creation at this point in the game whether you are union or an employer, I think everyone would be happy to know that we have job opportunities becoming available."
Wednesday November 4, 2009 |
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