FAIR HOTELS LAUNCH – NEW ETHICAL TEMPLATE FOR QUALITY JOBS
Friday 28 May 2010Fair Hotels, a three year programme to promote quality jobs in the industry and set a template for other economic sectors was launched in Liberty Hall, Dublin, on Tuesday (25th May). It drew praise from the business community and non-governmental agencies NGO’s as well as the trade unions, nationally and internationally for its vision in utilising the power of trade unionists as consumers to promote ethical choice, high employment standards and the Irish economy.
Hotel worker, Bernadette Casey, said that working conditions in the hotel industry had been driven down over recent years and only unionised establishments had defended standards of employment.
“Those of us who still work in the Fair Hotels have some chance of living in decent conditions. We are paid fair rates of pay and have used our collective voice, through our Union SIPTU, to put sick pay and pension schemes in place. Crucially, we also have a say in making our workplaces as safe as they can be,” she said.
Edward Stephenson, Irish Hospitality Manager of 2008 and General Manager of the Croke Park Hotel, Dublin, said at the launch that, “This is a very positive and valuable initiative by SIPTU that offers ethical consumers a choice. It is a case of a union taking a leadership role with an idea that is beneficial to the economy and will attract a lot of foreign business.”
He added that the
www.fairhotels.ie website would be a major asset for hotels associated with the campaign. “You cannot overestimate the power of the internet and the importance of ethical consumers. 40% of our own business comes over the web.”Irish Congress of Trade Unions General Secretary, David Begg, said that as well as urging 850,000 Irish trade unionists and their families to use hotels registered with the site, affiliated unions had agreed to hold their conferences over the next three years on their premises. This amounted to 61 conferences involving 17,650 delegates and 44,390 bed nights.
“Overall the trade union movement is a significant purchaser of services worth €80 million to the Irish economy”, he said. “We have to ensure in the current economic climate that every cent adds something to the incomes of Irish workers and their families.” It also ensured workers used their power as consumers as well as producers to simultaneously protect the Irish economy and promote their own interests he said.
In addition 32 Irish non-governmental organisations and civic society organisations have agreed to use Fair Hotels for conferences, meetings and accommodation for visiting delegations from developing economies.
Peter Gaynor, Executive Director of Fair Trade Mark Ireland, said that the 43 hotels which had signed up so far represented a very viable base. His own organisation had “started with two tons of coffee and no customers at all” in 1996. At the time only 16% of Irish people were aware of the fair trade concept, but last year the figure had risen to 64%.
“What you are doing today is telling consumers they have choices and informing workers in other countries of how they can help workers here in getting a fair deal when they take their holidays in Ireland. ” He believed the campaign would ensure “the future in Ireland will be with Fair Hotels”.
Lisa Eldret, Global Hotels Co-ordinator of the 12 million strong International Union of Foodworkers (IUF) brought fraternal greetings from her members, many of whom did the same work as their SIPTU counterparts. “Last week there was a global meeting of unions from 20 countries and we had a sneak preview of the website”, she said. They were so impressed that similar templates will be developed elsewhere. Meanwhile she added that, “We will do everything we possibly can to promote the site with our members around the world. We will work especially hard with you in relation to international hotels that operate in Ireland”.
SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor urged Irish trade unionists to spend more of their time and money “getting to know this country a little”. He said it was important that the trade union movement “supports the security and quality of employment by trade union members in the hotel industry”.
The union intended sending out details to the 24,000 members on the union’s intranet service, as well as circulating them to other ICTU affiliates. These had agreed to establish links on their own sites. One hundred thousand information brochures will be sent out in the coming weeks to trade unions and NGOs with details of registered hotels.
He advised any hotelier, or hotel chain considering applying for registration with the Fair Hotels website that they could still do so, provided they contacted SIPTU organiser Ethel Buckley at Liberty Hall by Tuesday 1st June.
Over the next month the Irish Congress of Trade Unions will be circulating all registered hotels with arrangements for the 61 conferences affiliates are holding over the next three years.
By Padraig Yeates
