#BTEditorial – Caring for tourism workers

If a substantial number of tourism workers feel a sense of betrayal and ambivalence about the sector they have given so many years of sacrifice to, who can blame them.

Often regarded as the key contributor to the economic engine which keeps this country going, tourism has become our nation’s lifeblood. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has so altered the industry, that our economic planners are pinning hopes of an economic recovery on tourism, despite the health threats caused by COVID-19.

It, therefore, cannot be a good look for a country that has placed so many of its eggs into the tourism basket, to so callously treat the people on whose shoulders, the industry’s success is so dependent. We continue to be saddened by the treatment meted out to so many workers in this sector.

Stripped of their dignity, the ex-tourism workers, mostly women,  are forced to picket the streets and outside the facilities of brand-named hotels. They are now appealing to the collective conscience of Barbadians and governmental authorities to step in and confront their former employers about severance and other payments owed to them.

Earlier this week, former employees of at least three well-known hotels, continued their near year-long battle and public protests. Should not these hotels, which have been relying heavily on local patronage to keep their operations afloat, not feel a sense of obligation to settle their debts to these workers?

What level of commitment are the current employees expected to display when they have witnessed the treatment of their former colleagues? Are they expected to provide genuinely customer-centric service to guests when they are aware of the fate that could also befall them?

The placard of one worker put it quite aptly: “Dear Barbados Government. Is tourism still the main industry or have we switched to the cannabis industry? Hotel employees are suffering; no one is listening!”

The fact that the Barbados Government has an interest in Hilton Barbados, one of the hotels being complained about, is a sad indictment.

It was not surprising the recent observations of Roseanne Myers, a former president of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) and the current chair of the Barbados Tourism and Marketing Inc (BTMI), who acknowledged some workers may have lost faith in the sector.

She described as “unfortunate”, the way some former tourism workers have been treated since the pandemic began affecting the region, leading to the collapse of the sector.

“It is unfortunate that some businesses made an early decision to close, some because they could do no better. The problem is that once you close, it is very difficult to reopen and that is why it was important for those operating in the sector to take advantage of the social safety net, try to hang on and then take advantage of whatever the government was offering.”

An experienced tourism executive, Myers went on: “I understand fully why some workers would be disappointed because you gave your heart and soul to something for many years and then a business owner takes a decision that was not necessarily founded on good business practice because they did not go after the help that was offered. And so, I understand the disillusionment.”

The hospitality sector is a major direct employer and thousands more jobs are reliant on the spin-off services that support the sector. The fact remains, however, that a significant number of tourism-related jobs are low-paying and lack security of tenure.

It is not uncommon for hospitality employees to be laid off during the lean summer months, adding to the insecurity of year-round employment.

As Barbados issues new protocols for the international travellers and has laid out the welcome mat for the cruise sector to resume, little has been said to address the labour issues that arose during the pandemic and how they are to be addressed going forward.

Myers, the BTMI chair revealed that there is to be an audit of the skills available for hire on the island. While we commend the move, there is no guarantee that establishments that severed or laid off workers during the pandemic will have any obligation to rehire them when the sector is revived.

Many of the employees are women and mothers. And so, the implications for their lives and livelihoods transcend the individual employee. Hospitality establishments may choose this time to “sweep the house clean” and hire an entirely new complement of workers whom employers believe can be shaped in the post-COVID operating paradigm.

Hospitality workers face an increased level of exposure to the disease and so special provisions should be made for their safety, thus reducing their risk of contracting the disease.

There are still not enough COVID-19 vaccinations for every adult in Barbados, and so can a hospitality employee bring legal action against an employer if he or she contracts COVID-19 in the course of doing their job?

Should the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) and the Unity Workers’ Union (UWU) be seeking some form of hazard pay allowance for those in the sector? These are just a few of the issues which should also be occupying our policymakers as we seek to get Barbados out of the recession in which it has been stuck for nearly a year.