NEW VISITORS AND THE GREAT HOTEL STRIKE OF 1990

Another of my fond memories of visitors to South Africa was of a visit paid to us by Deysi’s sister Lupe and her companion Jack. It was a great chance to have them and a good chance to meet Lupe’s new beau. They were both quite a bit younger than us, and were great to have around. In Deysi’s family, age did not seem to be as important an issue as it was in Canada and the States. It seemed that they all “hung” together, looked out for one another and all played on the same team. So Lupe being younger than Desyi did not seem to be an issue. They laughed, joked, giggled and told secrets as if they were “daily” buddies.

To Lupe, I was a “kinda” big brother, which made me somewhat acceptable. Lupe introduced us to her beau (Jack) and we immediately bonded, he loved to golf, travel, fish, watch sports and he worked in Engineering and Construction. He also liked to drink a beer or two which fit in perfectly with my plans for the future. Again, as with the girls, our difference in age did not seem to affect our friendship. We crammed as much sightseeing in, as was possible, during their visit and this memory is of one such sightseeing trip. We went to visit The Wild Coast Resort, located on the coast of the Indian Ocean midway between Cape Town and Durban.

So the setting is something like this. We hop in the car and head for The Wild Coast Resort and Golf Course. This resort also belonged to The Sun Hotels chain, same as the hotel in Sun City that we have spoken of earlier in this blog. We were pumped, Jack loved to golf and was looking forward to playing on a course outside of Canada. The girl’s, as always were up for a vacation and the hotel offered lots of amenities. It was nice.

Jack and I attacked the golf course early, the morning after check-in, leaving the girls to sleep in and then fend for themselves until we arrived back. I don’t think they even knew we were gone. Anyway the course was a challenge. It was located on a plateau above the Indian Ocean and much of the course looked down on the ocean and/or the hotel. I know I have said it before, but this time I really, really mean it, this place was spectacular. Our golf went as expected, Jack who had not played much due to work, kicked my ass pretty much without effort. For my part, I hacked, chopped, and cursed my way around.

We had female caddies who carried our bags and followed behind us in our ride on carts. They were not allowed to ride. It was a little embarrassing to be riding and see this lady, humping my golf bag along behind. Geezus, I didn’t make the rules, it was Jack! Anyway these girls politely clapped whenever a good shot was hit by my playing partner. I was roundly clapped whenever they didn’t have to go in the brush looking for one of my errant shots. The first ball I hit into the deep stuff, caused the caddies to jump up and down, swinging the arms, pointing and yelling Mamba, Mamba. Ol’ Jack says, “I think they are trying to tell you that they don’t want to go in there looking for your ball”. No shit, you think? Anyway we finish and back to the hotel.

On the way back from the course to the hotel, we encountered a large group of people, coming down a path, singing (well chanting), bopping, swaying and having a good old singalong, or so it seemed. Nice to see people having fun, I reflect. We didn’t think anything of it and headed back for our rooms. We go out onto the pool deck ready for a cool dip and meet up with the girls. They were ‘agitated’ and enquire if we had run into the large group of people heading down the driveway. Yes indeed we had, wasn’t it nice of them to welcome Jack and I back to the hotel after our game. “Well” says Deysi “what you have just seen is all of the staff from this hotel going out on strike”. I asked how many were gone and she said 100% everyone.

I’m thinking Eureka, where’s the bar, free drinks! She further explains that the group we saw went all thru the hotel and facilities singing, bobbing and weaving, in a line (like a snake) thru the bars, restaurants, laundry and into the rooms. Each worker they passed dropped whatever it was they were doing and grabbed onto the end of the tail and went bopping off, chanting and kicking up the feet every few steps.

This snake proceeded thru every part of the hotel and the amenities until there was not one worker left on the premises. At the time the snake came their way, the girls were on boats out on a lake paddling around. They were being watched and helped by the staff. Suddenly their minders joined on the end of the queue and bopped off into the distance, leaving them stranded out on the lake. They managed to get out and that’s when we met them at the pool. You might say they weren’t really happy.

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There only remained a few European management staff in the whole complex. Guests quickly pitched in and tried to help keep things running. It was unnerving to say the very least. The management didn’t seem overly concerned and kept assuring everyone that they would control the situation. Dinner was cooked by the two (hotel chain) head chefs that remained, and was served by guests. Laundry was made available so you could help yourself if you needed anything.

The crowd of workers and it was big, maybe 150, were now located at the end of the property, across a highway, in a field and were surrounded by a group of security personnel. It didn’t appear there was any danger of them trying to take over the hotel. Like a miracle, by midday the second day, Sun International staff from all over Europe, Africa and other parts of the world started arriving and one by one assumed duties of those workers on strike. These people were well trained and good at their job.

There may have been 25 new arrivals within 24 hours, and I am not kidding when I say, the quality of service went up at least one star, the food improved immensely, the room cleaning was efficient and timely. In one day a few, well trained management staff had taken the place of 150 union hands and improved the resort a lot. I am not mis-speaking even a little bit with that statement. We remained there a couple of more days before proceeding on our journey. I would say for certain, that I would stay in that hotel anytime, without hesitation, if it ever went on strike again!

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