Meikles
rebranded to Hyatt Regency last year five years after it was bought by the
United Arab Emirates-based hotel concern Albwardy Investment.
Sources at the
company said employees were at loggerheads with the management over various
welfare matters such as alleged racism.
The workers are
up in arms against general manager, Jonas Amstad, who was seconded to the hotel
for allegedly cultivating a toxic working environment.
“He started
recruiting his own from abroad, and the treatment between the local employees
and foreigners is totally different and openly shows favouritism which is
racist and biased,” an insider said.
It emerged that
the breakdown of a working relationship between the employees and the
management saw the former approaching the ministries of Tourism and Labour as
well as the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority last year for redress.
“As staff we
feel betrayed by what the Hyatt brand preaches and what is on the ground when
it comes to its Zimbabwean employees,” another insider said.
Recently, the
management summoned the workers' committee after a memo allegedly written by
the employees protesting unfair treatment leaked.
After the
meeting, the workers' committee apologised and distanced themselves from the
memo after getting a warning from the management.
“As a
professional workers committee, we uphold the values of our organisation to
established protocols,” workers' committee chairperson Kidy Mashavave wrote to
the management in a letter dated January 18.
The letter was
co-signed by his deputy Felix Marezva.
“We do not
engage with management through the media nor do we publicly disclose our
grievances,” the memo added. “Instead,
we utilise the formal grievances to address our concerns.”
Amstad did not
respond to questions on the matter.
Another general
manager, Tinashe Munjoma, on Thursday said the company had laid down procedures
for engaging its workers.
“We currently
have a workers' committee in place and we have a works council meeting after
every month where all issues pertaining to staff grievances are being
discussed,” Munjoma said.
A spokesperson
for the company, Stan Higgins, said the aggrieved workers were free to engage
the management over any concerns.
“Hyatt Regency
Harare The Meikles management has a well-established communication channel in
place with the workers’ committee to communicate and liaise on workplace
matters,” Higgins said on Friday.
“The management
is of course unable to comment on matters raised outside this channel.”
Albwardy bought
Meikles Hotel, which has been an integral part of Harare’s hospitality
landscape since its inception in 1915 by the Meikle brothers — John, Thomas and
Stewart — for US$20 million. Standard
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