Davis Says Atlantis and Baha Mar Have Moral Obligation to Workers
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PLP Leader says the hotels should be made to answer to the government for their layoffs during COVID-19 pandemic
Opposition Leader Philip Davis said government must hold mega resorts in the country accountable, after more workers were laid off at Baha Mar and Atlantis delayed their reopening to July 30th.
During a press conference at the Progressive Liberal Party’s headquarter on Wednesday, Davis said government must do something about the situation as Bahamians remain without employment.
“The government should not sit idly by and do nothing.
“The hotels must understand that after all the tax concessions they have been given, they have a wider moral obligation to these workers and this society.”
Davis continued, “People don’t know how they’re going to pay the rent or the mortgage, or how they’re going to keep the lights on. And yet the government stands by passively while people with decades of service at hotels in this country are being sent onto and into poverty.”
Davis said he has heard reports, though unsubstantiated, that Atlantis has hired contract workers over those who are permanent and pensionable.
He said he believes the permanent staff should be called back first.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced that Atlantis pushed its reopening to July 30th, as the hotel watches the spike in the US.
Baha Mar which plans to reopen on October 1st, laid off staff yesterday due to its extended closure and economic climate as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
