La Beach Hotel 'dictator' GM pleads for workers' forgiveness

Labadi Beach Hotel GM, Adrian Landry

Information reaching Adom Business indicates that the General Manager of La Beach Hotel, Adrian Landry on Monday morning went to the various departments of the hotel pleading for forgiveness for the seven years of dictatorship, intimidation and disrespect he has shown to workers and his colleague managers.

He is reported to have told the workers that he is not ready to leave Ghana so they should forgive him of everything wrong he has done to them.

Mr. Landry's move came after an earlier publication by myjoyonline last Saturday, following a demonstration by workers on the hotel's premises to buttress their demand for him to leave by the close of June 2013. The workers have sworn to continue wearing red bands until he leaves.

Reliable sources at the hotel told Adom Business he attended the separate morning routine meetings of the various departments, including Housekeeping, Laundry, Maintenance, and Food and Beverages departments, and apologized to each of them for his actions.

But some of the staff said they would not be fooled by his sudden and 'pretentious' change of attitude because “it is just a camouflage to avoid being kicked out of Ghana.”

The sources explained that Landry had in the past headed other hotels within the Legacy Hotels and Resorts Group in other parts of Africa, but because of similar complaints about him, none of those hotels accommodated him for more than two years, so it in only Ghana he has been in office for seven years.

According to the sources, Landry's bosses at the Legacy Group have tried to relocate him to one of the other hotels in another country but that has not been possible because the staff in all of Legacy's hotels have refused to welcome him.

“The Legacy bosses like him a lot so they want to relocate him to another hotel but none of the workers in any hotel in the group is ready to work with him so he is only pretending to be sorry so we will keep him here – but we will not be fooled,” one worker said.

Some of the stories the workers told about Landry in their petition to the Legacy Group include how he caused the suspension of a pregnant lady for unjustifiable reasons, and punished someone for reading newspaper during his break time.

The pregnant lady reportedly submitted a bill to a guest who had gone to the hotel to swim, but the guest told the lady to wait for his family to come so she could give him one bill for his family. While the lady was away doing another work, the family of the guest came and went into the pool.

Before the lady could return and give the man the bill, Landry saw the guests in the pool and asked why the lady did not give them the bill before they went into the pool. The lady reportedly explained why but Landry still asked for her sack.

Upon investigations, the lady's supervisor realized there was nothing to punish her for, but Landry insisted she should be suspended for two months. The lady is currently on suspension and she has delivered prematurely, arguably out of shock and trauma.

Landry also reportedly reduced the duty days of a casual worker from six to three days, with less pay because he found the worker reading a newspaper during his break period. He asked and was told the gentleman was on break but he still punished him.

The GM is also reported to have threatened another gentleman because of the way he walks. He allegedly made statements like “don't walk around the hotel like you are the boss, I am the boss.”

Meanwhile the workers are waiting for a meeting with the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) on Tuesday, after which they have planned to either hold a demonstration or rest based on whether they are satisfied with the outcome or not.