PM Browne Issues Swift and Sharp Retort to ABWU Statement

Prime Minister Gaston Browne said: The ABWU recommended a minimum wage of $12.50 per hour. That translates to $2,000 monthly. The irony is that this would have exceeded the minimum wage for hotel workers whom the ABWU represents.

Who is really involved in gimmickry? A minimum wage of $2,000 monthly would result in an additional increase of $450 monthly in the minimum wage for workers the Union does not represent. Meanwhile, the ABWU recently accepted an increase of $20 monthly for hotel workers. You well know that such an increase would be unsustainable, resulting in small business closures and job losses. But that is exactly what your malevolent organizing seeks to achieve: poverty and mayhem in pursuit of political power.

The latter point exposes your lies and deception.

Public sector wages would also have to increase by $450 to maintain parity. When you add the other benefits for public servants, including a non-contributory occupational pension and job security, public workers’ salaries and wages would far exceed those of non-executive and supervisory workers in the hotel sector.

As a result of the ABWU’s under-representation, the pay differential between public sector workers and minimum wage workers has narrowed over the years.

That’s the dismal record of an uncaring union that has failed the hotel workers it represents. The only thing the union seems interested in is collecting dues to pay over one million dollars in salaries and wages to executive members and others. The $3.7 million in annual dues—most of which come from hotel workers—is being wasted. That’s not surprising because the union officials simply do not care about workers. The ABWU is a dues-grabbing union that does little for its members.

Here’s a case in point: Instead of pursuing my administration’s suggestion to acquire land and build homes for sale to its members, the union invested nearly $2 million to build an apartment complex with eight one-bedroom units in Yorks Village.

The monthly loan payment at 7.5 percent per annum is approximately $18K. Depreciation at 2.5 percent is $4K monthly, maintenance $2K monthly, and insurance $2K monthly.

Total monthly expenses, including the loan payment, are $26K, while the rental income is about $12K monthly. This results in net monthly losses of $14K, or $168,000 annually.

The ABWU also loses over $400K annually on a café.

In 2023, the café located on Newgate Street at the Union Headquarters recorded a loss of $442K, with total revenue at $332K.

I challenge Massiah or any other executive member of the union to direct me to any business that incurs a loss exceeding its revenue intake.

This is indicative of gross incompetence, among other things I will not raise in this response.

Let the hotel workers know what you plan to do to improve their conditions. They too must share equitably in the astronomical growth our country is experiencing.

When will the union fight for the advancement of these workers?

Aren’t you concerned about the repressive tip policy at Sandals, in which staff were fired for accepting tips while others had to turn over tips to the Sandals Foundation?

Aren’t you concerned that Sandals and another hotel group have vested their hotel assets in a separate company from the one employing the staff?

Our government will amend the Companies Act to hold the company with the assets that generate hotel activity responsible for staff severance and other benefits in the event of liquidation or sale of the hotel.

Instead of trying to score cheap political points, why doesn’t the ABWU work with our government to secure improved benefits and increased protection for hotel workers?

Stop the drama and join us in empowering hotel workers. Failing that, we will continue to encourage them to jettison the ABWU and form their own representative union, governed by hotel workers for the benefit of hotel workers.

Massiah/Chester—show real leadership and cease your malevolent and selfish behavior.

Workers first! Not ABWU and its executive members first.

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