Hotel Tower in back-to-work deal

Last Updated on Friday, 30 May 2014, 0:20 by GxMedia

Several of Hotel Tower workers have opted to take severance pay while the others have been promised their outstanding wages and salaries ahead of their return to work next Monday, President of the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU), Sherwood Clarke said Thursday night.

He said the union and a principal director, Salim Juman Azeez, earlier Thursday agreed to ink two agreements- that 15 of the 50 workers successfully requested severance pay and the remainder would be receive their outstanding pay by weekend to pave the way for their return to work.

Clarke said Azeez’s revival for the cash-strapped hotel included the appointment of a new manager from Miami and the injection of cash from a number of yet known investors.

The union boss said management has agreed to pay severance within one month.  Agreements, he said, would be inked by management, union and the affected workers to cover both aspects of the deal.

Clarke said he was cautiously optimistic about the new arrangement.  “I’m 50-50 optimistic and pessimistic that things will come through but let us cross our fingers that they will not go through the struggle that they went through for the past week,” he said.

Management had last week Friday (May 23, 2014) announced the closure of the hotel and lock out of workers because it had no cash. The management had promised to sell off some of its assets to pay the workers who have been owed wages and salaries dating as far back as December 2013 and in other cases for several weeks.

A number of the affected workers have complained that friends of the management have been racking up huge credits and staying as guests free of charge in rooms whose rates had been reduced from more than US$200 per night to US$50.