PRESS RELEASE
Former employees of the Jolly Beach Resort converged at the ABWU’s headquarters on Wednesday and Thursday to verify their outstanding severance amounts following a recent announcement by the Government that monies would be disbursed within a matter of days.
By Friday morning, more than 200 individuals were able to verify their outstanding severance amounts. According to Deputy General Secretary, Chester Hughes, the on-going verification exercise will ensure that all employees are paid what is rightfully theirs.
Several former staff members have expressed relief that the severance dispute was now drawing to a close. One young man, who was employed at the hotel for 10 years, said he was grateful to the Union for its relentless pursuit of the workers’ severance. “They did a very good job! They stuck with us right through…I must commend them [for] pounding the government, [and going] through the courts…,” the young man said.
A 62-year-old woman, who gave 12 years of service to the hotel, expressed disappointment at the protracted course of the severance dispute. “I’ve been home for two years and months without nothing…so I find that we’ve been treated badly,” the former worker explained. The woman who takes care of her 92-year-old mother added that she and her co-workers had given their best to the Resort but were left to languish.
More than 500 employees lost their jobs when the Jolly Beach Resort ceased operations in March 2020. Last week, the Government announced that it had secured a deal with the Elite Group for the renovation and re-opening of the hotel in January 2023.