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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>BITU rejects proposal to tax gratuity paid to hotel workers</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY BALFORD HENRY Observer writer balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, February 12, 2007
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>ASSISTANT Island Supervisor of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Alvin Sinclair, says the union will not support efforts by the Ministry of Finance to merge non-taxed gratuities for hotel sector workers into their basic pay.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"We believe that the workers will be worse off because the bulk of their earnings comes from gratuities. We don't believe that it should be taxed and we definitely cannot support the proposal," Sinclair said.
The BITU officer was speaking to the Observer after the formal returns from a poll conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, at the Point Village Resort in Negril, Westmoreland last Thursday showed a massive win for the union.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Of 141 workers eligible to take part in the poll, 135 voted, of which 134 voted for the union and one vote was rejected.
Sinclair's comments on the proposal were the first made publicly by any of the trade unions, in response to the ministry's plan to merge a number of non-taxed, reimbursable allowances, including the hotel workers' gratuity, into basic pay for tax purposes.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The move is to offset an increase in the income tax threshold to $275,000 which should have been effected from January 1 based on a promise made by Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Omar Davies, in April 2005.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Davies told Parliament on January 30 that although the Government agrees that gratuities are the bulk of pay earned by hotel workers, it felt that it is not good for them in the long term because National Insurance Scheme and National Housing Trust payments are not related to gratuity.<P class=StoryText align=justify>But Sinclair argued that the working conditions of the workers in the hotel sector did not make the move favourable.
"The workers are crying out for union representation because of the conditions of employment that exist in the sector. The hotels need to improve the situation; and it is not just about money, it is also about respect," Sinclair added.<P class=StoryText align=justify>He said that the union would be making a claim for improvements in the compensation and benefits for workers at Point Village Resort, including waiters, lifeguards, sanitation workers, bartenders, housekeepers, groundsmen and maintenance workers. The poll was supervised by industrial relations director, Faylene Foster.<P class=StoryText align=justify><P class=StoryText align=justify>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY BALFORD HENRY Observer writer balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, February 12, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>ASSISTANT Island Supervisor of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Alvin Sinclair, says the union will not support efforts by the Ministry of Finance to merge non-taxed gratuities for hotel sector workers into their basic pay.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"We believe that the workers will be worse off because the bulk of their earnings comes from gratuities. We don't believe that it should be taxed and we definitely cannot support the proposal," Sinclair said.
The BITU officer was speaking to the Observer after the formal returns from a poll conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, at the Point Village Resort in Negril, Westmoreland last Thursday showed a massive win for the union.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Of 141 workers eligible to take part in the poll, 135 voted, of which 134 voted for the union and one vote was rejected.
Sinclair's comments on the proposal were the first made publicly by any of the trade unions, in response to the ministry's plan to merge a number of non-taxed, reimbursable allowances, including the hotel workers' gratuity, into basic pay for tax purposes.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The move is to offset an increase in the income tax threshold to $275,000 which should have been effected from January 1 based on a promise made by Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Omar Davies, in April 2005.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Davies told Parliament on January 30 that although the Government agrees that gratuities are the bulk of pay earned by hotel workers, it felt that it is not good for them in the long term because National Insurance Scheme and National Housing Trust payments are not related to gratuity.<P class=StoryText align=justify>But Sinclair argued that the working conditions of the workers in the hotel sector did not make the move favourable.
"The workers are crying out for union representation because of the conditions of employment that exist in the sector. The hotels need to improve the situation; and it is not just about money, it is also about respect," Sinclair added.<P class=StoryText align=justify>He said that the union would be making a claim for improvements in the compensation and benefits for workers at Point Village Resort, including waiters, lifeguards, sanitation workers, bartenders, housekeepers, groundsmen and maintenance workers. The poll was supervised by industrial relations director, Faylene Foster.<P class=StoryText align=justify><P class=StoryText align=justify>