Former workers of the bankrupt and shuttered Tower Hotel hope they will soon be paid more than $5 million in outstanding wages and salaries since the repossessed property has been sold and a court is expected to hand down its decision soon on workers’ compensation.
“It was confirmed by the management lawyer (Hotel Tower’s) that the hotel was sold…we hope this means that soon the workers will get their due,” Sherwood Clarke, President of the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU) told Stabroek News.
Some 67 workers are owed a total of $5,577,633 in wages, salaries and other benefits since last year May, when the hotel abruptly closed.
The hotel had said business had declined dramatically and that assets would be liquidated to pay what was owed to its employees. It, however, broke several promises to pay them. The Ministry of Labour intervened and has since taken the hotel to court to secure payments for the workers, who had staged a number of protests for their wages.
A ruling in that case comes up on the 29th of this month, before Magistrate Dylon Bess.
The Magistrate has given the owners up to that date to present themselves to the court and failure to do so can result in a ruling.
A former employee of the Hotel, who now waits tables at a small city restaurant, told Stabroek News that while she was glad that the hotel was sold she would not ‘hold her breath’ on owed payments anytime soon.
“We keep following the story like till suh I tired of getting meh hopes up then only for a next brudups. I will wait and when I get it will be the right time and I will be happy then but I not holding meh breath,” the woman said.
She also noted that from time to time the owed employees would communicate with each other and share updates on the matter.
She said that the monies owed will be welcomed by all. This has been the longstanding stance of the employees who from the inception have been following the developments and had even worked out a plan to take turns in going to listen to the court proceedings whenever they are called.
It is unclear who the buyer of the hotel is, but the CCWU President said that he understands that the person has a “close alliance” to the previous owners. The owners of the hotel at the time it closed were West Demerara businessman Salim Azeez, US-based businessman James Manbahal, Varendra Shiwratan and Bharti Persaud Misir.
An advertisement in Kaieteur News yesterday listed the hotel for sale with a Harry & Son Realty as its agent.
Hotel Tower first opened its doors in 1866 on the site of the present Guyana Post Office. In 1910, it was re-sited to its present location under expatriate ownership. In 1946, the property was acquired by a Guyanese/ Barbadian family, the Hump-hreys, along with 50 other shareholders and re-named Hotel Tower Ltd. Though the next 50 years comprised troughs and peaks, the Tower’s ideal downtown location made it attractive to its guests.
In 1966, on the occasion of the Hotel’s Golden Anniversary, a commemorative stamp was struck in the hotel’s honour. After that the Tower’s fortunes began to decline.
The owners persevered, however, and in 1988 it immersed itself in further debt to finance the upgrading of the facility to a five-star hotel.
The upgrading plans included the establishment of the Emerald Tower Rainforest Lodge at Madewini. That initiative failed to bail out the Tower.
The investment decision was taken when the economy was booming but the momentum was not maintained and the occupancy level fell in the face of political turmoil. As a result, the lack of returns did not allow for money to be reinvested because it was diverted to paying crippling debt.
The establishment went into receivership to the Bank of Nova Scotia on April 12, 1999. The bank appointed Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram as Receiver/Manager of Hotel Tower.
Even as efforts were made to turn the fortunes of the hotel around and to find a buyer, business continued to decline, with the average monthly room occupancy dipping to approximately 25 per cent of total market share. In mid-2003, the Bank of Nova Scotia ceased its receivership hold on Hotel Tower Ltd in an equity transaction which saw a local investor group with businessmen RL Singh, Amarnauth Muneshwer and Ashoka Singh of Canada emerge as the new majority shareholders. Some of the small shareholders who were originally with the hotel had retained their business interest while Humphrey opted to sell his 60 per cent stake in the business.
The hotel was again sold in February 2009 to Canal Hospitality Inc, a business partnership headed by Azeez. The entire hotel was completely remodelled. A new bar, nightclub and gym were among the features added.
From then on, until it closed its doors again last year the hotel has had persistent financial problems.
