by IUF Asia/Pacific | May 28, 2025 | Bahasa Indonesia, Campaigns, Collective Bargaining Rights, Defending Democracy, Freedom of Association, Human Rights, Our Union Our Power, Secure Jobs
Tangerang–Ratusan buruh yang tergabung dalam Federasi Serikat Buruh Makanan dan Minuman (FSBMM) yang datang dari Lampung, Jawa Barat, Jakarta, Banten, dan Yogyakarta, menggelar aksi protes damai kedua pada 5 Mei 2025 di depan kantor pusat Unilever Indonesia di BSD. Aksi ini merupakan respon atas PHK sepihak yang cacat hukum, yang dilakukan oleh PT. Anugrah Mutu Bersama (PT.AMB) dimana perusahaan ini merupakan perusahaan Joint Venture dari Unilever yang memproduksi Kecap Bango.
Dalam tuntutannya, buruh mendesak manajemen Unilever Indonesia untuk memperkerjakan kembali Dani Afgani yang merupakan Sekretaris Umum FSBMM sekaligus pekerja di PT.AMB serta untuk menghentikan praktek union busting terhadap pekerja yang aktif dalam organisasi serikat. Aksi berjalan tertib dengan pengawalan aparat, dan para pekerja menyatakan siap melakukan aksi lanjutan bila tuntutan tidak ditanggapi secara serius.
Ratusan buruh bersatu menuntut pembatalan PHK sepihak PT. AMB yang cacat hukum dan memperkerjakan kembali Sekretaris Umum FSBMM Dani Afgani
by iufasiapacific | Jul 5, 2024 | Collective Bargaining Rights, Our Members, Our Union Our Power, Secure Jobs
Members of the IUF-affiliated National Workers Union (NUW) in Fiji won a historic 10-day strike at the site of Natural Waters of Viti Limited (NWVL), which produces the Fiji Water brand exported around the world.
Despite the tremendous patience of members and the efforts of NUW to reach an agreement with NWVL management earlier this year, talks broke down on April 8, 2024. This forced members to take industrial action – the first strike in decades in Fiji – to defend their rights and interests.
When negotiations broke down, management was still refusing to introduce basic benefits such as a shift allowance, Cost of living allowance (COLA) and would not make transport arrangements for workers required to overtime. The factory is in a very remote location – at the very source of the famous Fiji Water brand.
Job security was a critical issue in the negotiations. With so many changes to job roles due to automation and plant expansion, the union was seeking a job review. Management refused. In addition, management had started to deploy casual workers employed under precarious employment arrangements to carry out regular job roles. This violated the collective agreement and undermined the job security of union members.
Union members went on strike on on May 7, 2024, at the water bottling plant in Yaqara and the Naikabula depot in Lautoka on the main island Viti Levu. After a determined strike that mobilized all union members, an agreement was finally reached on May 16, granting all of the union’s demands.
NWVL is owned by The Wonderful Company in the US and Fiji Water is the leading premium bottled water in the US market.
During his visit to Fiji, the IUF Asia/Pacific Regional Secretary congratulated Brother Felix Anthony, the NUW General Secretary, on the historic win.
by IUF Asia/Pacific | Jun 29, 2024 | Collective Bargaining Rights, Freedom of Association, Hotel & Tourism Sector, Human Rights, Right to a Safe Workplace
On July 1, 2024, the Accor-branded Sofitel Philippines Plaza Hotel will close for renovation. Although it will eventually reopen, the owning companies behind Philippine Plaza Holdings, Inc (PPHI) – which is owned by a joint venture between Kajima Group’s subsidiary Kajima Development and Allied Properties in Hong Kong – have decided to declare a complete closure with mass layoffs. In complete disregard for international human rights standards and its obligations under the OECD Guidelines, Accor has simply gone along with this.
When the Philippine Plaza Chapter (PPC) and the Philippine Plaza Supervisory Chapter (PPSC) of NUWHRAIN requested negotiations on the terms and conditions of the renovation, Accor and Kajima Allied’s Philippine Plaza Holdings, Inc (PPHI) simply refused. They would not even provide an explanation of why the hotel will close when much of the renovation has already been completed. Even while Accor and hotel management told the unions – then openly declared in the media – “the hotel is unsafe!” … events, parties, conferences and bookings continued.
Kajima Development and Allied Properties maintain a lease on the beachfront and land through Philippine Plaza Holdings, Inc (PPHI) that will expire in another 17 years. Instead of seeking to terminate the lease because of the “closure” of the luxury hotel resort, they are seeking an extension to a 25-year lease. So Accor and the owners of the iconic Sofitel Philippines Plaza Hotel have plans. The workers who dedicated dozens of years – and for some decades – of their working lives to make Sofitel Philippines Plaza Hotel so successful have no part in this plan. They will be thrown out like trash on July 1, 2024.
This epitomizes how global hotel chains like Accor fail to recognize the value in the work of hotel workers, and their valuable contribution. Workers are just an expense. And the unions that represent these workers are just an obstacle to dismantled.
This is actually the purpose of this declared “renovation”. Get rid of hundreds of workers and all of their pensions and benefits. Dismantle the unions and the collective bargaining agreements that recognize workers’ contribution to the business through decent wages and benefits, and reset the business. So when the hotel reopens it will be free to hire an entirely new workforce with zero years of service, and will not need to negotiate with any union that is intent on protecting workers’ rights and bargaining fair wages. The zero reset in this renovation will mean zero rights for the workers that walk through the back door in the renovated, reopened hotel resort.
Opened on September 26, 1976, the hotel went through three major renovations (1994, 1995, 2007) and every few years there were a series of extensive resonations and upgrading. Accor took over the hotel operations under its luxury Sofitel brand in 2007 with a major renovation. 17 years later the hotel will go through another renovation because – the owning company and Accor claim – it is “unsafe”. Accor has confused approach to safety, with its “Allsafe” label coinciding with rights abuses and unsafe working conditions in countries such as Indonesia.
Workers now see the dark side the catchphrase of Accor’s luxury Sofitel Philippine Plaza resort: “WHERE LIFE LIVES!” And they are left to ask, “For who?” It lives for guests, for profits, for business. But workers will not be able to live their lives. They face hardship, anxiety and bitterness.
Meanwhile Accor is expanding its business in the Philippines and opening several new hotel properties including ibis Styles Subic, Mercure Subic and the luxurious South Palms Resort Panglao Bohol – MGallery. This also includes the largest Pullman branded hotel property in the world to be opened in Cebu City in 2028. When announcing this new development, Accor declared that it: “… demonstrates Accor’s confidence in and commitment to the promising potential of the Philippines.”
What Accor refuses to recognize is the promising potential of workers already working in their hotels in the Philippines, and the hopeless they have created for hundreds of workers and their families. July 1, 2024, will be a dark day for these families and will cast a shadow on Accor’s upcoming hotel properties in the Philippines for decades to come.
by IUF Asia/Pacific | Jun 29, 2024 | Collective Bargaining Rights, Freedom of Association, Hotel & Tourism Sector, Our Union Our Power, Right to a Safe Workplace
Hotels are as much as about the service that workers provide as the location and facilities. Rooms and facilities are cleaned and maintained, food is prepared, cooked and served. Guests are attended to, entertained, assisted, and kept safe. From the laundry to food and beverage, to cafes, restaurants, conference rooms and banquet halls, there is cleaning, maintenance, preparation, security and constant service.
Yet for most international hotel chains, workers are invisible, an afterthought, or just an expense. Based on the attitude of an entire generation of HR managers who lack any understanding of industrial relations and work, workers are just a problem to be solved.
Without workers nothing works. Nothing happens. No one eats. Nothing gets cleaned. Without the service, security and welcome atmosphere that guests pay for, the hotel is just a building. In fact it is the service provided by hotel workers that makes the people that come to hotels guests. Ignoring this reality, international hotel chains spend hundreds of millions of dollars on loyalty programs, brand promotion, and image. This entire business model fails to take into account that loyalty is based on a good experiences and that experiences depend on hotel workers.
The hundreds of millions of dollars wasted on loyalty programs and brand promotion should be redirected to paying workers decent wages; improving working conditions; guaranteeing safe, secure (permanent) jobs; protecting hotel workers from harassment and abuse; reducing excessive workloads and reducing workplace stress; and ensuring that workers can freely access their rights, including the right to join a union and the right to a safe workplace. These are human rights.
Similarly, all of the financial resources redirected to brand image is ultimately wasted if global hotel chains allow local management to treat workers unfairly; engage in discrimination; impose excessive workloads; bully, intimidate and harass; and blame workers’ “attitude” on anything and everything that goes wrong. This happens because there is no recognition of the value of the work of hotel workers in all their different job roles and occupations. There is no recognition of hotel workers’ valuable contribution to the hotel as a business and its brand. Since their value is not recognized, workers are not respected. When managers and supervisors do not respect workers it opens the door to all sorts of abuse and unfair treatment.
The failure of corporate management to stop this abuse and unfair treatment gives these abusive managers and supervisors a sense of impunity. Managers are emboldened by this sense of impunity, and it just gets worse for workers.
The tragic result is that the people expected to provide warm, friendly, prompt, efficient, professional service and/or to work hard, meet targets and follow (constantly changing schedules), simply cannot. When some workers give up and leave, management blames workers’ lack of loyalty or the problem of retention (“they keep changing jobs”). The hotel industry then goes running to government and the media complaining about a “labour shortage”. What they don’t explain is that there is only a shortage of workers willing to work under these abusive conditions – underpaid, overworked, and denied dignity and respect. Well, yes – there is a shortage of that kind of labour because most workers are aware of their human rights and won’t tolerate these abusive conditions.
The solution for these global hotel chains, it seems, is to bring in workers who are not aware of their rights or who are too vulnerable and afraid to exercise their rights: migrant workers on temporary visas, newly arrived immigrant workers or refugees, undocumented workers, or students. (Exploiting students under the guise of “on the job training” is rampant in the international hotel chains in many countries.)
The entire management approach of international hotel chains seems to hinge on the hope that hotel guests don’t see workers as people (and for certain workers like housekeepers, cleaners and kitchen hands to never see them at all). Yet everyone has a name tag with their first name (or if their real name is a difficult “ethnic” name, then they will be Peter, Mike or Jenny). Hotel workers who have contact with guests have to introduce themselves by name. All very personal, all very human. But what workers cannot be is an actual person with a family to get back to, bills to pay, family events to attend, or anything else that might suggest that beyond the name tag is a real person with a life of their own.)
Hotel workers are expected to bring the warmth and friendliness and smile of a person, but not expected to be treated as a person. Hotel workers are expected to be professional, but are not treated as professionals with ability, skills and experience. They certainly are not paid according to their skills, ability and experience. Hotel workers are not paid for their valuable contribution and the important work they do. Because the value of their work and contribution is not recognized.
Ultimately this recognition can only come through joining or forming a union, combining together to exercise the collective bargaining power needed to stop the unfair treatment and abusive practices in hotels. It is the collective bargaining power needed to ensure safe, secure jobs free from anxiety and stress. It is the collective representation through the union needed to end the impunity of abusive managers and supervisors, and to eliminate discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace. It is the only way to work with dignity and respect. It is the only way to ensure recognition of the value of the work of all workers in a hotel or resort.
Joining or forming a union is not a magic solution for hotel workers. It requires continuous organizing and constant bargaining. It involves a never ending fight to be treated decently, and paid fairly. It involves constant reminders to management to treat workers (union members) with respect. But it is the only way to bring about these changes. Because the only thing that matters to the international hotel chains is the value of their very expensive, very fragile brands. We need to get organized to remind them that behind that brand is hotel workers, and hotel workers have value.
Hotel housekeeping workers in the Philippines protest “room quotas kill!” on International Workers Memorial Day, 28 April
