Employees of the Coral Sands Hotel on Harbour Island are threatening to take industrial action if the hotel’s owners continue to refuse acknowledging the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) as their official representative body.

Several employees, who spoke to The Bahama Journal on the condition of anonymity Thursday, said that a majority of the staff had voted in February to affirm the BHCAWU’s representation.

Furthermore, the employees claimed that after securing 90 per cent of staff signatures, the hotel accused them of using signatures of people no longer engaged with the hotel.

“They are trying everything to keep us from getting the representation we want,” said a female employee. “I have been with this hotel for seven years and there are a lot of issues here that people are afraid to speak out about because they fear losing their jobs. That is why we need the union to represent us.”

The employees said that they have been secretly meeting to strategise over when and in what form they will carry out their industrial action.

BHCAWU Secretary General Darren Wood confirmed to The Journal that the union is currently embroiled in legal dispute with the owners of the Coral Sands Hotel over this issue; however, he said the union was unaware of the employees’ plans to take industrial action.

The Journal also contacted Coral Sands’ General Manager Pamela Berry who too said that she was unaware of these matters.

Ms. Berry also said that she was not in a position to comment on the legal dispute between the union and the hotel.

The 38-room luxury beach resort has just over 100 employees.