
Issue No 19		25 June 1999

News

Dirty Linen: Cleaners Beat Hotel Giant

A major hotel chain has abandoned an anti-union push after the NSW labour movement threatened unprecedented opposition to its plans to push housekeepers onto individual contractors.


	Workers Rally Outside Hotel

Twenty-five housekeepers at Mirvac's Hyde Park Plaza Hotel had been given until Tuesday to sign the individual contracts or face the sack, after they had joined the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union.

But within three hours of the workers striking and setting up a picket outside the city hotel, the company had capitulated and withdrawn the termination threat.

It also undertook not to pursue outsourcing of the housekeeping services without the agreement of the workforce.

In a letter to the LHMU, Mirvac conceded that it was the committed opposition of the employees that had convinced it to change its decision.

Committed Activity

The decision was greeted with joy by the housekeepers, some of whom had been working with the company for 35 years.

It followed a 24 hour period of frenetic activity by the workers and union organisers.

On Thursday night two of the workers had addressed Labor Council and won movement-wide support for their cause. In a moving address, Belinda Murphy told delegates of how she had been pressured into signing a contract while working alone cleaning a room.

Recognising the attack on workers was "as important, if not more so, than the MUA dispute," the Labor Council resolved to back the workers with a 24-hour picket the next day.

A media release was issued late that night, while workers and organisers spent the night preparing placards.

Sydney woke to hear stories of the workers' plight on ABC radio and in the Sydney Morning Herald. Some radio stations crossed live to the picket where workers spoke of their determination to see the issue through.

With TV crews, supporters from other unions and housekeepers from other hotels preparing to converge on the hotel for a midday rally, Mirvac management abandoned its plans, minimising the negative publicity and giving the workers the result they had been seeking.

A Text-Book Example of Organising

Trade Union Training Australia organiser Troy Burton, who worked on the campaign, says the housekeepers' victory is a text-book illustration of the benefits of organising.

"This is a dispute which the workers ran," Burton says. "They did the talking to the media, they organised themselves, they got their colleagues from other hotels to back them."

"If anyone doubts the benefits of organising workplaces, they should take a look at the photos from today."

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  Issue 19 contents

Interview: Moore for the Battlers
NCOSS director Garry Moore gives the community sector's response to this week's State Budget

Unions: AWU's Bush Blitz
"This is AWU Country". That's the slogan for the Australian Workers Union as it launches its campaign to address the specific needs of workers throughout regional and rural Australia.

Indigenous: Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide
A United Nations committee slams Australia on indigenous native title rights.

International: Unions Post-War Stand
The world labour group demands KFOR track war-crimes authors and says social dimension central to Balkan reconstruction.

History: How Swede It Was
Swedish seafarers play an important role in South Australia's maritime history.

Review: If He Had Only Listened To Me ...
If Michael Thompson had listened to me the current debate raging in the nation�s opinion pages about his book may not have been as hysterical.

» Dirty Linen: Cleaners Beat Hotel Giant

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» Pay Anniversary Marks New Challenges

» Join the Labor Council Team!