Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre.
PORT OF SPAIN--More than 300 employees at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre face uncertainty after the hotel operator warned that it could stop running the state-owned property on September 18 unless a replacement agreement is finalised.
Hilton International Trinidad Limited told the Communications Workers’ Union in an August 4 letter that its lease with the state-owned Evolving TecKnologies and Enterprise Development Company Limited, eTeCK, expires on that date. General manager Olivier Maumaire said the parties had made what Hilton described as excellent progress after months of negotiations but had not completed a new agreement.
Hilton said it could not continue employing the hotel’s staff after the deadline without an operating agreement. The company’s position is that the lease requires eTeCK to assume employment obligations when the arrangement ends, but it said there was no certainty about what the state company would do. The hotel could therefore close if eTeCK were unwilling or unable to take over operations, the letter said.
eTeCK responded that neither it nor the government had decided to permanently discontinue operations at the landmark Port of Spain hotel. It said talks with Hilton remained active and constructive and that Hilton continued to be the employer responsible for its existing obligations to staff. The state company also said the original lease arrangement had expired in 2023 and that the current board and management had inherited the transaction.
The conflicting positions have left workers seeking answers about their jobs, benefits and length of service. The union’s secretary general, Joanne Ogeer, said the letter had caused concern and anxiety and did not appear, on a preliminary reading, to constitute formal retrenchment notice under the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act.
The union said the correspondence did not establish that retrenchment was certain, nor did it show that consultation or steps to reduce the impact on employees had taken place. It has asked whether staff would transfer to eTeCK or another operator, and whether continuity of employment, accrued benefits, recognised years of service and collective-bargaining rights would be protected.
Hilton provided estimated severance figures for individual workers. The union stressed that receiving those calculations did not mean it accepted that severance was inevitable or that the proposed process met legal requirements.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar declined to comment on the negotiations, saying the matter involved ongoing business discussions. Land and Legal Affairs Minister Saddam Hosein, whose portfolio includes eTeCK, forwarded the state company’s statement instead of answering detailed questions. Two months earlier, he had said the parties were negotiating in good faith.
The talks also concern delayed capital works and upgrades valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars that are needed to meet hotel standards.
For now, no closure or retrenchment decision has been announced. However, the September 18 deadline gives Hilton, eTeCK and the union little more than six weeks to settle the operating arrangement and give workers a clear account of what happens if no agreement is signed.
