Tourism chiefs asked to prevent abuse of foreign workers

The TUC is today calling on the UK tourism industry to audit the working conditions throughout the supply chain of the holidays they provide, to ensure workers are not being abused.

The call comes following a Tourism Concern investigation showing that many of the 200 million workers employed through the global tourism industry, worth nearly $500 billion a year, suffer low and unpredictable pay, treacherous safety conditions, serious health risks, sexual harassment, long hours, and casual employment. And that many have no contract, no training and are prevented from joining trade unions. The report says that things have got worse for workers who have been hit the hardest by the recent tourism crisis that followed September 11th 2001 and the SARS virus outbreak.

Four companies account for 50 per cent of the tourism business leaving the UK. The TUC is calling for them to set the standard of auditing employment standards for smaller operations to follow.

Assistant TUC General Secretary Kay Carberry said:

UK holidaymakers would want to know that a fair share of their holiday pound was going to people who make their holidays great. They would be reassured to know that their holiday company has made sure that there is no mistreatment of the waiters, cleaners, guides, reps, cooks, drivers and other workers who cater for them.

This is about companies treating working conditions as part of their social responsibility but also good business sense. Good treatment of all the workers your customers might meet will improve their performance. Customers will enjoy the holiday more and will want to travel with you again.

Tourism Concern Programme Manager Guyonne James said:

Every resort Tourism Concern researched can be found in the brochures of the major tour operators. The tourism industry has to start taking labour standards seriously if this abuse is to stop. They have to understand they have a responsibility to ensure that no worker down their supply chain is exploited just to increase profits.

The kind of abuses uncovered in Tourism Concern’s report ’Labour standards, social responsibility and tourism’:

Workers are increasingly being employed on temporary contracts or no contract so they receive no benefits - such as paid maternity, holiday or sick leave - and can be hired and fired on a whim. Case study - room cleaner, Gran Canaria: The management hired me when I was a young woman. I worked for many years in mainland Spain, but illegally or without a contract. As a result I have not worked long enough, or paid enough contributions, to get a pension.

A recent ILO report highlighted the violence and stress in hotels, catering and tourism. Factors such as long shifts, irregular hours, low and varied pay, cost cutting, alcohol consumption and the sometimes sexual nature of holiday promotion, create high-risk zones for the health and safety of staff. Case study - waiter, Gran Canaria: There are so many violations of the law here but tourists don’t see them. Workers get treated badly by management. Sometimes people are injured at work and the hotels try and bribe them to avoid compensation. Fire regulations are rarely observed and staff are continually overworked. Of course tourists don’t know any of this. We are trained to smile and only speak to ask how they are and how we can help them. Case study - Gran Canaria: Mari and her 9 colleagues are laundry workers for a group of six hotels. Every day they iron 3000 sheets, 5000 towels, 3000 napkins and 12,000 tablecloths. The average temperature in the laundry is 40 degrees centigrade.

Tourism globally still relies heavily on low wages. These are usually justified by added service charges and tips from holidaymakers but the danger for workers is that these are not always passed on by the employer or make up too much of the take home pay to guarantee a decent, consistent income. Service charges can be over 500 per cent the basic wage. Case study - Cambodia: A Singaporean-owned hotel in Cambodia has been ordered to pay compensation to its employees ($50 each to 440 employees) after an arbitration panel found ’service charges’ collected from guests by the hotel were not passed on to workers.

Long hours and unpaid overtime, often for physically demanding work, is commonplace in the tourism industry. Cost-cutting measures have put additional demands on over-worked employees. Case study - Egypt: To maximise the productivity on board Nile cruise boats the workers are often required to work 45 consecutive days and then take 15 days off, but workers say that the working day is much longer than eight hours due to the practice of docking at night and being ’on call’ 24 hours a day. It is not uncommon for a waitress to work 16 hours a day with the extra hours unpaid. Case study - Dominican Republic: Segunda works a nine hour day and cleans 21 rooms (including bathrooms and verandas). She is a widow with two teenage children. When she takes her holidays, she does not get paid for them and when she works overtime, which she does frequently, she also does not get paid. She would like a union to give her security, but the hotel has not agreed to have a union on the premises.