Staff members of Windamere Hotel, one of the oldest hotels in Darjeeling town, have threatened to stage a hunger strike after the establishment issued a notice of a “lockout” from next month, citing losses due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Situated at Observatory Hill, Windamere is a heritage property and belongs to the 1840s’ colonial-era, with the hotel established there around 1939. A staff of the hotel, Harish Bharati, who has been working there for the past 13 years said,

“We were informed by the management that we will not be getting our salary for the month of June, after which we approached the ALC (Assistant Labour Commissioner), which called a tripartite meeting today. A message was sent to the ALC that the management could not attend the meeting today and they sought a few days’ time. However, what was even more surprising was that they also sent a notice that the hotel would be locked out from July 5.”

According to Mr Bharati, there are 45 staff members in the hotel and some of them had been working for 40 years now. He also said that from November last year to March this year they were being paid 30 to 40 percent of the salary.

It was only in the months of March and April that they drew their full salary, while in May they got 50 percent, he claimed.

The staff members are also taking up the issue through the trade union, CITU.

“Where will we go from July 5? We will wait till Thursday when a tripartite meeting has again been called by the ALC. If we do not get a favourable decision, then we have no option but to stage a hunger strike with our family members,” Mr Bharati said, adding that the ALC has also assured them legal action against the management if no decision is had.

Mr Bharati maintained that they have put forward two options–one being a change in the management with the rest of the shareholders coming here to take a decision.

According to them, only one of the shareholders of the hotel lives here. The other option they have put across is that the management must provide them with whatever rights they are entitled to.

The hotel management could not be contacted for comment. The lockout notice, however, said, “Due to the outbreak of the pandemic disease COVID-19… our hotel is suffering from immense hardship and monetary losses since last one and half years.” It further adds, “… as a result of which we have continuously suffered loss since then and at present the Hotel Management has gone into financial crisis leading to financial debt.”The notice also states that they have decided to go into a “lockout” mode and temporarily suspend the functioning of their business. “…were contemplating to provide our hospitality services to our guests once everything becomes normal and tourists’ starts coming, particularly international tourists, and we start getting the bookings,” the notice read.