KINGSTON, Jamaica – Workers at the Decameron RAMADA All-Inclusive Resort (formerly Royal Decameron Club Caribbean) are threatening strike action if a dispute with management over wage and other issues is not resolved after a meeting on Wednesday.
Rudolph Thomas, Vice President of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), which represents the workers, issued the warning in a press release.
Nearly two years of unresolved wage negotiations and other employment issues are fuelling the workers ire, according to Thomas.
“The workers represented by BITU are frustrated by the hotel management’s approach to negotiations, covering wages, benefits, and working conditions for the January 2023 to December 2024 period, which has stalled progress,” he said.
Thomas explained that the hotel brought in a third party negotiator to deal with the workers’ complaints and this lengthened the process of negotiations, plus made it difficult for upper management to respond appropriately to the workers’ needs.
The matter was referred to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in December 2023 but it has seen little progress since, and irate workers filed a 72-hour notice of industrial action on October 23, 2024.
The BITU confirmed that, following an initial meeting, the Wednesday afternoon sit down is scheduled at the Ministry of Labour for 2:00 pm. The union is hoping hotel management will attend to “resolve the impasse and meet workers’ demands.”
“The BITU has no desire to see operations become disrupted, especially at what may be a sensitive time for the hotel, but will stand with its members, as the matters must be amicably resolved, without much further delay,” Thomas stressed.