How could you?

ROSE HALL, St James — Several employees who were greeted with redundancy letters when they turned up for work at the Ritz Carlton Hotel yesterday, vented their anger at the abruptness of the move at the gates of the resort.

" I don't know, because the shift that they gave us is an unusual shift so we came in to work the shift and this is what we got. So it is surprising," said one worker.

Some of the workers said they suspected something was wrong when they were placed on what they said were "unusual shifts" scheduled to commence yesterday.

"Coming in this morning this is what we are presented with; they should have been more professional in presenting the letters," said the worker.

"At Ritz Carlton we don't expect them to do business like this because they claim they are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen, but this is boy and girl," another joined in.

The workers, who noted that the hotel management beefed up security on the property in anticipation of any violent reaction yesterday morning, could have prepared the workers for the severance notices well in advance.

"They were anticipating a bad reaction because they have plastered security all over the property," said one of the workers. "If you train ladies and gentlemen you should not expect violence."

Yet another terminated worker accused the hotel of only discharging local workers, while maintaining foreign nationals.

"So far we haven't seen any expatriate worker that has been made redundant so that doesn't paint a good picture either. How can you let Jamaican people come to work and present them with redundancy letters just like that?".

A portion of the letter dated January 5,2010 read: " We are very sorry to inform you that your current job has been affected by a reduction of workforce caused by the downturn in our business. We are writing you this letter to review the details of your redundancy package which will take effect January 6, 2010."

In the meantime, in a terse statement, Bernd Kuhlen, general manager of Ritz Carlton, Rose Hall, said that the dislocation of jobs was a result of "business needs".

"We have made 83 workers redundant. We made the adjustment in accordance to the business needs," he said.

However in a press statement tha came in after Kuhlen's response, Rose Hall Resort LP, owner of The Ritz Carlton Golf and Spa Resort in Rose Hall said it was stunned to learn of the firings, pointing out that the Ritz-Carlton's action came just days before Rose Hall anticipates receiving a ruling from the Jamaican courts, which it hopes will finally allow the company to evict Ritz-Carlton from the Rose Hall property.

"Today's employee firings at Rose Hall came completely out of the blue for us," said Michele Rollins, President of Rose Hall Development and one of the owners of the hotel. "We share the anger and dismay of the employees who were fired, particularly since the management contract with Ritz-Carlton was terminated four months ago and we are hopeful that our effort to remove Ritz-Carlton from our property will be supported by the Jamaican legal system very soon."

"We are extremely eager to replace Ritz-Carlton so that we can continue our long relationship with the country of Jamaica and this unique and wonderful property," said Ms. Rollins. "Ritz Carlton's firing of resort employees today makes it very obvious that it is no longer interested in the wellbeing of our valued employees or of this gem of a resort."

According to Rollins, Rose Hall is committed to maintaining a 5-star Resort at the property under the new management of Salamander Hospitality of Middleburg, Virginia. However, according to the release, this commitment has been thwarted by Ritz Carlton's refusal to vacate the property since Rose Hall terminated the management contract in September 2009. "The matter of Ritz-Carlton's possession of the hotel against the wishes Rose Hall is pending resolution in the Jamaican court, which begins its term tomorrow" the release said.

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