Jamaican union wins reinstatement of dismissed Iberostar hotel workers

Jamaica’s University and Allied Workers’ Union has won reinstatement for over 360 Iberostar employees dismissed in August 2009 for alleged reasons of redundancy.

The union initially challenged the dismissals by calling on the Ministry of Labour to intervene; when thr Labour Minister failed to get the dismissals rescinded, the issue was referred to the Industrial Dispute Tribunal, which on August 30, 2011 ruled the dismissals were unjustified and called on the hotel to reinstate all the dismissed workers with full back pay on or before December 5. 

Spanish-based Iberostar has been expanding rapdly beyond Spain and now operates over 100 hotels and resorts in Spain, Central Europe and the Balkans, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.