By Alisha Ally

Staff of The Jalousie Plantation were informed on January 26 that their services were no longer needed.  According to a press release by Jalousie, the decision was taken by the management of the hotel, in agreement with the hotel’s owner, because of the lower than usual occupancy over the festive season and dismal occupancy projections heading into the first half of the year.

Some 60 workers were dismissed from the 340 compliment but were assured that the hotel would support the staff affected with letters of recommendations to help them find employment elsewhere.  General Manager of the hotel, Rodrigo Caldeira stated: “We truly regret to do this, but the economic situation and low occupancy have made it impossible for the hotel to continue operating with our current staffing levels.”

Jalousie says it was scheduled for full closure at the end of this spring, but the decision was taken to keep the property open and to maintain as many jobs as possible.  A move the hotel credits as good news to the community.  Furthermore, the hotel believes that the ongoing extensive enhancement work has generated a number of construction and landscaping jobs which has helped to lessen the impact of the dismissals.

Addressing the issue, Tourism Minister Allen Chastanent had this to say: “The market continues to be very soft so I think that the money we have gotten from the government to boost our advertising was well timed.  We have a new ad campaign out now called www.stlucianow.com where we’ve taken a lot of factors into consideration including the room rates.” This is not the first hotel to layoff its workers.  Sandals St Lucia dismissed 210 workers before Christmas claiming the global financial crisis was to blame.

Throughout the Caribbean, Sandals cut the fat by handing out pink slips.  Before that it was Windjammer while other hotels have been putting their workers on rotation.  Some of these actions come amidst cries for a much debated bailout from government by the hotels, which have been approved.  Taxi drivers and vendors have spoken out saying the hotels aren’t the only ones suffering; it’s a domino effect.  Those who did not understand the statement thought they were trying to get a piece of the pie.  In truth, everyone is trying to get a slice.

This begs the question, how many more must suffer before some sort of action is taken?  The decision to dismiss workers does not only affect them, but the entire country.  The daily bread is taken from the workers and by extension their families.  Those same workers spend less therefore the capital circulation in the country is stymied leaving St Lucia in an even worse position than when troubled times first hit. Those workers’children are affected because there’s no money to send them to school.  Those children miss out on their critical educational tutorials.  There is no need to finish the image.  One can only hope that the business minds will recognize that hoarding all the cash to increase profit margins is not the solution during an inevitable global slowdown.