Chaps ‘broke’ Employment Rights Act – Walrond

A disturbing breach of the Employment Rights Act is how Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Wayne Walrond has described the abrupt closure of three restaurants by Chaps Restaurant Limited leaving 149 workers jobless.

Declaring that he did not intend to comment on the reason Chap’s Chief Executive Officer Joanne Pooler gave for closing the restaurants, Walrond said he hoped this was not an example of the new way business would be done in Barbados.

Walrond said employers should not believe that they are allowed to drop employees when they want to without prior notice and reasonable explanation, and any required compensation.

He said: “The concern from an industrial relations perspective would be that we are aware that the spirit of the Employment Rights Act seeks to give some reasonable notice before the due closure to a business.

“There are six weeks of consultation where you try to see where workers can be absorbed, you try to minimize the amount of persons being dislocated.

“It is somewhat disturbing when you have a sudden closure of a business to the extent that workers are left in a state of shock.

“This is obviously not the desired way of doing business in terms of how you treat to workers and it is something that you have to watch carefully.

“And even if there is some considerations that caused this sudden move there has to be some arrangement to consider workers who have been loyal to these institutions.”

On Monday morning, employees of Cin Cin by the Sea, Primo Bar and Bistro and Hugo’s Barbados, some of whom were on their first day on the job, were greeted by notices that the upscale restaurants were closing their doors, leaving them wondering how they would pay their bills and support their families.

In a statement issued on Monday, Pooler blamed the immediate closure on declining visitor spend, a 2.5 per cent increase in VAT, an extra five per cent levy on restaurant bills and the granting of duty free concessions for restaurants which are attached to hotels.

But Walrond was adamant that business owners consulting with workers before closing their doors was a necessary process since losing a job is not an easy blow and those who are going to be affected should be given the opportunity to prepare for life on the breadline.

The NUPW official said: “At least we would expect the least you can do for workers is have a proper process in place where they can be briefed, where they can be prepared and where there could be adequate information on how they would be impacted, how the termination would be effected, who would be retained and how they would be compensated.”

He said he hoped that the situation does not start the beginning of a trend where employers close their doors and leave workers stranded and scratching their heads for ideas on how to survive.

“It is an unfortunate situation and from our perspective the labour fraternity is very concerned with this development and how it has played out,” he said.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb