By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL

Freeport News Reporter

krystal@nasguard.com

The Bahamas Hotel Cate-ring and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) is appealing to its members to be patient and to trust that their elected leadership is working diligently to ensure their rights are protected.

In an article in Monday's edition of The Freeport News, one BHCAWU member criticized the current executive board, claiming it is not properly representing its members.

The member pointed to the fact that since the last election of the BHCAWU in April, which reinstated two-time ousted president Nicole Martin, they have yet to have a general meeting with executives and members are unsure of what negotiations are being made on their behalf between the hotel and the union.

During an interview at Worker's House yesterday, General Secretary Darrin Woods said the executives understand the frustration of the members working at Our Lucaya Resort who are waiting for their increases. He said the executive board is attempting to address the outstanding matters at that property.

"The last time being about three weeks when we met with management in an introductory meeting but we also told them in no uncertain terms that the union expects for the increases to be paid and also the pension fund because while there are increases that have been negotiated, there are also benefits that are also negotiated that we are trying to get the hotel to implement," he said.

The management at the resort has written to the union on more than one occasion, he claims, requesting a deferring of the payment, but the union responded in no uncertain terms that it would not be granted.

"It is an obligation. While we understand the climate of the island of Grand Bahama and The Bahamas as a whole, it is unreasonable for the company to ask for the union to freeze increases at 2008 rates."

When asked by the union last year when the payment of the outstanding increases would be made, he said management indicated that by November 2009 they would have been able to take some action. After the second election, they indicated that it would happen by the first quarter of this year. However, that has not been the case.

Woods said he believes the company is "playing a wait and see game" with the union, stalling the payments and further discussions until the outcome of the proposed poll that the Commonwealth Union of Hotel Services and Allied Workers hopes to hold.

That union of hotel services, headed by Michelle Dorsett is claiming that it has a majority of the employees at Our Lucaya's support and is attempting to become the bargaining agent for that property instead of the BHCAWU.

Woods said the BHCAWU executive board was open to the poll and feels that if the workers indicate that they want the Commonwealth Union to represent them, then they would accept the wishes of the people and leave.

"Let's see what happens at the end of the day, if this poll comes off. They realize that the agreement is between the BHCAWU. If the recognition for this union goes away, then everything goes away."

According to Woods, the behaviour of the Resort's management appears to show that they believe the BHCAWU executive board does not have the support of its membership.

"But I would say to the company that BHCAWU is the bargaining agent for those persons and until such time as that changes, we expect for our contract that has been negotiated and executed to be honoured and we will take whatever steps legally that we have to, to ensure that happens."

BHCAWU Second Vice President Elliott Thompson said the impression given from the initial meetings with the resort's management was that "everything seemed to be signed, sealed and delivered," however, as time went on he felt they were being given the runaround.

"Every time we called to meet either with Mr. Weber or whoever else we're supposed to meet with, it seems like they are always either off the island or just telling us they will call us back and we never get calls," he said.

"At the end of the day the contract speaks. You have to pay. We just want to let our members know. Let's be patient and trust in the people they elected to do the job they elected them to do, and we will, to the best of our ability."

Woods said he understands the members' concerns about a meeting not being called yet, and revealed that one has been scheduled for July 23, at which time the board will bring members up to speed with what is happening.

"We have been in office for eight weeks and a couple of days and we have been doing a lot of things outside of general meetings. We didn't have anything concrete to report because every time we would have gotten a commitment from the company, they moved the goalpost," he said.

Woods said he would like for the union's members to trust the executives they elected, who are committed to fighting on their behalf.

The Freeport News called the Our Lucaya Resort and left a message for General Manager Michael Weber but he had not returned a call up to press time yesterday.