For a company that repeatedly fails to tell the truth in its reports to the authorities in France under the Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law and its reports to shareholders, Accor’s actions in Indonesia suggest this is becoming part of its corporate culture.
Accor has repeatedly denied that workers unfairly dismissed at Fairmont Sanur Bali in July 2020 were terminated because they formed a union Serikat Pekerja Mandiri (SPM) and joined the IUF-affiliated FSPM.
However, after declaring that the selected workers were redundant for business reasons, union members were then individually offered their jobs back. The condition was that they sign a letter lying about what had happened.
“It is true that I work as Fairmont Hotel employee, hereby declare voluntarily and knowingly without any coercion from any party that I have never joined the membership of Serikat Pekerja Mandiri (SPM). Thus, I made this statement letter in truth.”
As members of a trade union, SPM, duly registered with the Department of Manpower in accordance with the law, Accor was asking them to sign a document saying they never joined. A lie. Four signed and got their jobs back. Thirty-eight refused to lie and continued their struggle for reinstatement. [See the video UnFairmont about this struggle against unfair dismissal.]
So if you lie you can work for Accor. Without a union. And without the internationally recognized human right to freedom of association that Accor claims to respect.
Now after 10 months they have no chance of returning to work and restoring their rights. Apparently the hotel will be rebranded under another international hotel chain, as Accor walks away from its responsibility in a pandemic. Ruined lives in its wake.
In its next report to the French government under the Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law, will Accor’s Vigilance Plan mention the issue of the violation of worker and trade unon rights in Bali, Indonesia, as a human rights risk? Will Accor admit that it failed to guarantee the fundamental human right to freedom of association? The case of Myanmar suggests the answer is “no”. The company makes no mention of human rights risk in Myanmar where their business partner was named in a UN Human Rights Council report as a crony of the military. If left unchallenged, that sets a dangerous predecent.
They refused to lie, so cannot work at Accor…..
