HANOVER, Jamaica— President of the Negril Chamber of Commerce, Elaine Allen Bradley has described Wednesday’s closed-door meeting between Royalton Negril, tourism officials and other stakeholders, as fruitful.

“I left the meeting feeling that we’ve achieved something. I felt very good in my gut that what was discussed by the [tourism minister Edmund Bartlett] and what has been put in place by the Royalton [is] for the good and the benefit of the staff. The minister highlighted a lot of things that need to take place,” she told the Observer Online after the talks.

“I feel confident because right now talking to some of the staff and the managers there — not the general manager — that things already have been put in place. The staff that we spoke to there feel also that everything is not totally right but it’s getting there, starting from after the strike. That’s how I came away feeling confident,” she explained.

On Monday, hotel employees protested over what they described as poor treatment, inadequate pay long hours and not being adequately fed.

They appealed to Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett to intervene and suggested that it was time for tourism workers to be unionised. Operations at Royalton Negril all but ground to a halt with some guests forced to scrounge around for food and serve themselves. At least one guest joined the protest staged on the streets outside and many others took to social media to voice their support for the staff.

READ: WATCH: Hotel workers at Royalton Negril continue protest action

In response, Bartlett on Tuesday, said that a task force, led by Executive Director of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre Professor Lloyd Waller has been established to examine labour market arrangements within the sector.

According to Allen Bradley, Bartlett told Wednesday’s meeting that the task force will provide a report in two weeks.

“He has employed a team that will specifically deal with what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again, because we do not want anything to smear the tourism image,” she said.

The chamber president said that Bartlett also spoke of the importance of caring for and investing in staff, especially when there is a shortage of skilled labour. She added that she also raised the issue of giving temporary contracts to some hotel employees.

“You cannot get progress with temporary contracts because people cannot, literally cannot, build a house on temporary contracts. You cannot borrow money on temporary contracts and the minister said it depends on the type of contract and the skill set, which is true. So, he is going to look at that, that people have more long-term contracts. We are hoping that this will happen,” stated Allen Bradley.

Also among the issues discussed, she said, were the tourism pension scheme and training for industry employees.

Senior Vice President of Blue Diamond International, the operators of Royalton Negril, Daniel Lozano, travelled to Jamaica to address issues at the property. He met with the management team and some of the workers. The hotel’s general manager, who employees pointed to as a major source of their angst, has since been suspended.

Allen Bradley said she asked Lozano about claims that local managers were merely acting on directives from the corporate office and he assured her that there would be changes.

“As a chamber of commerce president, I told him I am going to follow up on the change,” she said.

Following the meeting, stakeholders — concerned about protestors’ complaints that they were not being adequately fed — were given a tour of the staff canteen.

“Honestly, it looked really good and I said to him, ‘I hope this is not just papering over the cracks… and that will be permanent and this is not just for a show’. And he said, ‘No’,” relayed Allen Bradley.