Embattled workers of Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Tuesday staged a protest on the non payment of their severance packages by the manager of the hospitality company,Marriot International.
The workers’ protest came on the heels of the recent acquisition of the majority stake in Capital Hotel plc, owners of Abuja Sheraton by 22 Hospitality Limited,a subsidiary of Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company Company,NIPCO.
Armed with placards with inscriptions,such as:”Marriott Treat Us Like Human Beings; We Are Not Animals”,”When Shall We Grow” ,”Pay Us Our Money” ,Enough is Enough”,the workers arrived the entrance of the facility in the early hours of the day chanting solidarity songs.
The hotel union members also protested other issues bordering on safety standards as a result of the degraded state of the hotel.
The General Secretary of National Union of Hotel & Personal Service Workers ( NUHPSW),Comrade Leke Success,who led the protest frowned at the plight of the embattled workers of the company,saying they should be paid accordingly per the dictate of labour law.
He insisted that the workers would not leave the entrance of the company until there is concrete assurance that the managers of the hotel would pay their severance packages and address other concerns.
The union leader later met with the management of Marriot International and the latter announced the commencement of payment of severance benefits of workers that have completed due clearance.
Besides, the severance would be made to all staff either casual or permanent staff,according to the outcome of the meeting
Payment of severance benefits is expected to continue today,Wednesday.
Meanwhile,the managers of the hotel Tuesday has officially closed the facility for possible renovation.
The management in a statement said
Dear Valued Guest ” We wish to.kindly inform that the hotel is closed temporarily from.today , Tuesday October 18 ,2022.We sincerely apologize for all the inconvenience . Thank you for your understanding and cooperation ”
No specific fix date of reopening the hotel as an aftermath of the expected massive rehabilitation which required huge capital investment .
NIPCO had earlier issued a statement through its spokesman, Alhaji Lawal Taofeek, who quoted the Group Executive Director of the company, Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadir, as saying that the new investors are desirous of restoring the hotel to its former glory of being the first-choice luxury hotel in Abuja.
According to Aminu, this strategic drive is also aimed at making the hotel carve out a niche for itself by becoming a leading hospitality firm offering premium services to customers in accordance with global standards.
“The hotel is currently managed by Starwood/Marriott under various system license agreements with CHP. In the past, Starwood had acknowledged in various reports that the hotel was in a much degraded state and would require hard renovations to make it brand compliant. However, despite the hotel’s poor condition and non-compliance with its brand standards, Marriot/Starwood has continued to manage the Sheraton Abuja Hotel, which is currently in a dilapidated and deplorable state”