(Trinidad Guardian) The restaurant industry in T&T is in crisis says Prestige Holdings Group CEO, Simon Hardy. Prestige Holdings, which operates the KFC brand, has no other choice but to vaccinate employees which will pave the way for the reopening of restaurants, Hardy said on Saturday.
Although Hardy declined to comment on what action Prestige Holdings will take if employees refuse to be vaccinated, he did say it was essential for the survival of their industry.
“The Government has a policy of ‘Vaccinate To Operate’. So, if we do not vaccinate, we cannot operate. We need to recognise that the entire restaurant industry is in crisis. The industry and employees have suffered for over two months now, with no income, with mounting losses, with cash flowing out of the door. We’ve already seen reports of restaurants closing permanently due to the damage that the existing closure regime has caused,” Hardy said.
Hardy warned of job losses with “serious social and economic implications” if there are any protracted delays in the Government’s decision to allow restaurants to reopen.
On Saturday, however, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, speaking later at a press conference said restaurants and food service, including street food, will reopen on July 19 after having been closed since the end of April.
Although he did not say specifically how many KFC workers will be vaccinated, Hardy said the Government has provided 20,000 vaccines for the industry.
“As an industry, we have lobbied the Government to get vaccines made available to our staff. We are very grateful and appreciate the Government’s support in committing 20,000 vaccines to our industry. This will address the problems that many of our citizens and staff have had in accessing vaccines.”
He also said Prestige Holdings was providing financial incentives for employees to get vaccinated.
“As an industry, we are also incentivising our staff to encourage them to be vaccinated. At Prestige, our approach is to pay staff for a day’s work (fixed at $150) for their time and out of pocket expenses. Other companies in the industry are taking a similar approach with providing cash and/or vouchers.”
He admitted that vaccine hesitancy is a major issue to deal with and so they have brought in doctors to advise staff.
“We have engaged staff and given them the facts and also provided information and Q&A session with a medical doctor. This was done to help address the staff’s concerns. However, vaccine hesitancy is still a major factor. We have a duty of care to provide a safe workplace for our staff and for our customers. Based on the current World Health Organisation (WHO) advice, this is achieved by having as many persons vaccinated as soon as possible.”
KFC WORKER SPEAKS
A KFC worker who asked not to be named said on Saturday that Prestige Holdings was being unfair to workers.
“I feel as if this is slavery days. They are pressuring managers to pressure us to get vaccinated. What is TT$150? They give us that for two weeks and nothing else. Now they are telling us we have to vaccinate to come back out. This branch kicking up against it and everybody afraid to talk.”
The worker said some employees do not wish to be vaccinated because they are afraid of the vaccination itself.
“It is too soon to detect if this can really save your life. Even when you get vaccinated it’s still not stopping you from getting the corona. How do they know that our immune system cannot naturally fight this off?”
The worker called KFC’s approach “unfair” as workers remain dedicated to the company.
“That is the law. They cannot force workers to be vaccinated.”
