Issue No 3 | 05 March 1999 | |
NewsWorkers Fight Hotel Chain's Contracts PushBy Mikael Kjaerbye, LHMU Media Officer
Hundreds of LHMU members employed by the giant ACCOR hotel chain are fighting attempts to cut their wages and push them onto individual contracts.
Many have already rejected a management proposal which would cut important conditions in return for a $2 per week wage rise and will rally outside the chain's Novotel at Darling Harbour this Monday (March 8) . Building workers from nearby sites will join the rally, to create a united front against the French multinational. Management is using a two-pronged strategy. At existing hotels, workers are being pressured to vote for non-union enterprise agreements. At new sites, workers are being forced to sign individual contracts - AWAs - which also cut wages. This is despite the massive profits being made by ACCOR - estimated at over $20 million from Sydney hotels alone in the last year. NSW Union Vice-President Jeff Roser said hotel workers need to join the Union and get active. 'ACCOR has hired an expensive firm of solicitors to tell them how to cut wages,' Roser said. 'But they will fail if the employees stay united.' Workers at the Ibis, Novotel and Mercure Hotels in Sydney's Darling Harbour have rejected management's non-union agreement. 'The vote was a resounding victory for the employees. Only 29% of workers at the three hotels voted for management's proposal.' The non-union agreement included a wage rise of just $2 per week in the first year. A second rise of $12 per week was offered after one year, with $8 after two years. 'This was a very poor offer. Management was going to take away 47 different working conditions in return,' Roser said. The key to stopping ACCOR's attempts to cut conditions is high levels of Union membership in hotels. 'Workers are always going to lose unless the Union is involved in negotiating agreements,' Jeff said. Union membership at Melbourne's Sofitel Hotel rose dramatically after workers heard of management's plan to cut wages and conditions. Victorian LHMU Vice-President Stuart Coutts said more than 100 workers at the ACCOR-owned hotel had appointed the Union as their bargaining agent. 'People knew they have to get organised,' Coutts said. 'The pay rises being offered are less than employees are likely to get from Living Wage increases over the next three years.' Workers at many ACCOR hotels in Victoria, Queensland and NSW are now working with the Union to negotiate a much fairer agreement.
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Interview: How Organising Works The ACTU�s Sarah Kaine is part of a new breed of union organiser who help workers stand up for themselves. Unions: Big Boys Bank on Mergers Mergers of the big banks are back on the agenda, and the Finance Sector Union is leading the community campaign against them. History: Commemorating Our Dear Departed Equal Pay Activists Two women who deserve special recognition and commemoration as part of our Women's Day celebrations are Eileen Powell and Edna Ryan, both of who played a crucial role in the struggle for equal pay. Legal: New Judge Announces Zero Tolerance Of Pay Inequity In NSW The NSW Industrial Relations Commission is training its sights on industrial raw-deals for women, and targeting the traditional under-valuation of women's work. Review: Keep the Australia in Australian Television. Local content quotas for Australian television are under threat from our Kiwi cousins. Campaign Diary: Radical Conservatives Raise Their Own Bar This Monday writs are issued for the state election, The phoney campaign ends and the real one begins; and the issue of stability, the need for it and the lack of it, is set to dominate the next four weeks.
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