A RACISM storm is brewing at the Hyatt Regency Harare The Meikles, formerly the iconic Meikles, where employees are alleging unfair treatment by management.
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.