By Carlena Knight
Former Jolly Beach workers will have to wait a bit longer before they can receive their severance.
This is according to Deputy General Secretary of the Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU), Chester Hughes.
The ABWU is the union bargaining on the workers behalf.
Hughes was speaking on the Observer AM show on Monday on the matter where he explained that it’s a very intricate process which will take more than just a few days to resolve despite previous announcements coming from government ministers that the more than US $2.6 million severance would be dished out to the more than 500 workers this week.
Hughes explained that once all goes well, the former workers should receive their compensations by next week.
He explained that they did meet with the employees last Friday to update them on where they are in the process.
“As I said to the employees, this is a process and we have to do what we call verification of numbers now, where we are verifying with the employees the numbers that we have had in our possession of their severance, then, we have to reconcile with the receiver to ensure that what we have is what they have. Having done that then, the cheques would be allocated and distributed to the various individuals,” Hughes explained.
There are even some cases, Hughes said, where families of deceased workers would have to acquire letters of administration before they can collect any sort of severance.
Observer media understands at least two former employees of Jolly Beach have died.
The ABWU is, however, already in the process of ensuring that the former employees receive the monies owed to them. They will be hosting a number of meetings this week with staff.
“We are meeting with employees as of Wednesday. We will be meeting with them Wednesday morning between 9 and 12. Wwe have already instructed employees and on Thursday we are meeting them from 12pm until 4pm and then on Friday, we will be meeting employees all day long. Having done that, then we will verify with the receivers these are the numbers, this is what it is and then from there, cheques can be cut and employees receive their money,” Hughes said.
News that the former workers would finally be receiving their severance came last week following the announcement that businessman Rob Barrett of Elite Island Resorts was back on board after negotiations fell through with him earlier this year.
The hotelier is reportedly investing US $6 million which he will lend to the government to renovate rooms at the resort and make those severance payments. The intention is to have 100 rooms ready ahead of the winter tourist season in December 2022.
Apple Vacations was the latest company to show interest in the resort, signing an agreement to manage the property in July. It is not yet known what will happen to that agreement now that Elite Island Resorts is on board.
Although a specific figure was not given which would go towards the former staff, last Thursday, Cabinet Spokesperson Melford Nicholas did indicate that the payments will be handled by the chambers of attorney Kenny Kentish who represented the interests of the former Jolly Beach Resort’s owner prior to the sale.
The Elite Group is said to be one of “a number of options that had been explored” to operate the Jolly Beach Resort and ultimately won the bid to manage the facility.
The government plans to eventually secure ownership of the hotel and its property which is said to be worth US $30 million.