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Broomes orders probe into alleged exploitation of Princess Hotel employees
-physical assault, no overtime paid among litany of complaints
Exploitation, adverse working conditions and physical assault were among the plethora of complaints that employees leveled yesterday against management of the Princess International Hotel and Casino.
Some of the employees meeting with Minister Simona Broomes and a Senior Official within the Ministry.
The complaints were made to Minister with responsibility for Labour, Simona Broomes, who immediately dispatched a team to investigate the allegations.
Kaieteur News was told that a number of employees from the International Hotel and Casino in recent days have been lodging complaints with the Ministry over the now seemingly unbearable situation.
Among some of the complaints lodged with Minister Broomes were the erratic manner which some employees are being paid, compounded with the fact that overtime and other allowances are not paid.
According to one of the employees, the company is in the habit of sometimes paying some of the staff every other month.
In what also appears to be a violation of the local labour laws, the Minister also heard that employees at the International Hotel are being forced to work beyond the stipulated minimum working hours per week.
The Minister at this stage inquired as to overtime payments, and was informed that employees are not paid overtime.
This, she said, was unacceptable and would not be condoned as it constitutes a violation of Guyana’s labour laws.
The Minister was also presented with a number of testimonials signed by other employees at the International Hotel complaining of maltreatment.
At face value, according to Minister Broomes, the documents appear to constitute evidence of victimization and discrimination.
The employees also complained of physical assault. Some of those lodging complaints claimed that they were sometimes shoved, while being ordered to attend to the tables of certain customers.
Some customers, according to the employees, are afforded extra special treatment as dictated by Management.
These, they said, included, but were not limited to, Ministers of the previous administration.
Some employees said that incidents of sexual assault have stopped since the recent widespread publication of an incident which occurred at the entity.
After listening to the allegations, the Minister took a decision to dispatch a team to the hotel to investigate the alleged breaches immediately, with a view to taking affirmative action should the allegations prove true.
The Minister said that she was informed that similar complaints were previously lodged against the hotel’s employers; complaints which appear to not only have been ignored, but were also repeated to the alleged perpetrators.
Those employees would have reportedly found themselves on the receiving end of being victimized but Minister Broomes sought to assure those lodging complaints now that “this Minister ain’t want meals write off, this Minister ain’t want gifts, this Minister ain’t want anything, this Minister come to serve the people of Guyana.”
“I am not going to have this one run over, I am going to deal with this one,” Minister Broomes assured the employees, while stating that the probe would be a thorough one.
The Minister in seeking to send a message to both employers and employees said that “anywhere you go and work in Guyana, anywhere in this country employers and employees will have to take a different tone.”
She said workers in Guyana must not be made to work as slaves merely to profit employers. “You are providing a service, you have a right, your rights need to be protected and your wages that you work for need to be paid to you.”
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