Two important and interesting stories in the tourism sector at the moment. The first is about the strike at Rangali (which has ended now) which is one of the better resorts in the country and another is an attempted robbery at Baros which left one attacker dead.. the investigation continues. Links to both stories are here….
first story
at Haveeru
at Minivan
second story
at Minivan
at Haveeru
On the first issue, the protesting staff alleges discrimination of pay which is very common practice in resorts and elsewhere. Generally if two workers are employed in the same position and one being an expatriate and another local, the chances are that the local will get less. Its quite common and has been an issue protested over many times in different resorts and other businesses in the past as well. Another issue the protesters claim is that the employer holding back service charge which the resort denies. Although the strike is called off now we understand that the resort agreed to raise the service charge to levels in other similar level resorts which means agreement that service charge has been manipulated.
Under the labour law employers are required to pay all but 1% of service charges taken from guests to staff and yet most resorts withhold part of this income. But for a Hilton branded resort to go to this low to profiteer at the expense legitimate incomes of the staff is unbelievable!
On the issue of the attempted robbery at Baros , one attacker is known to have died and its not clear the circumstance of the death. However it is known that there are head injuries and that the attacker was pulled out from lagoon while trying to make escape after a scuffle with the staff. Its the second time this year that the robbers have attacked resorts and this time they were just not lucky enough. Resorts have to come up with better policies to protect the island and be more vigilant as the robbers are getting more daring and dangerous with each attack. Ideally the solution to these problems could be through policing and judicial system. However with the government and opposition parties firmly locked at horns, any useful measures to overhaul the judicial, and penitentiary system could not be expected. Its also understood that most of the violent and dangerous crimes that happen in the country are committed by hardened criminals who are released to the community in the midst of their prison term for various flimsy reasons.
Maldives Resort Workers 