{"id":17971,"date":"2019-05-01T15:34:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T14:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=17971"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:56:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:56:48","slug":"holiday-inn-ihg-un-global-pact-anti-trade-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=17971","title":{"rendered":"‘Bullied, overworked and underpaid’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite has lodged a formal complaint to the United Nations Global Compact today (May 1) over the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098unethical\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 anti- trade union behaviour of the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fourth largest and richest hotel chain, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), in breach of its obligations under the UN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s international agreement.<\/p>\n

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The complaint includes a report, Unethical IHG<\/a>,\u00c2\u00a0 which details a decade of poor working practices and deliberate anti-trade union avoidance tactics across IHG\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s UK hotel-estate, including housekeepers at a five star IHG-owned hotel being bullied, overworked, and then denied the right to have their grievance heard collectively.<\/p>\n

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IHG, which made $27.4bn last year, signed up to the UN Global Compact in 2009, committing to uphold its 10 principles including, principle 3; the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a move which helped secure its contract as the official hotel provider for the London Olympics in 2012.<\/p>\n

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Unite is now urging the UN Global Compact to step in after IHG management\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s repeated backtracking on allowing Unite access to the group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels in London to speak to workers, distribute union materials and represent members over nearly a decade of on-off negotiations.<\/p>\n

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On Friday (3 May) fair hospitality campaigners from Unite will also be greeting shareholders at the group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s annual general meeting (AGM), with a call for the hotel operator to pay its UK staff the real living wage of \u00c2\u01419 an hour (\u00c2\u014110.55 an hour in London) and recognise the union.<\/p>\n

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The AGM is taking place at its flagship Intercontinental Park Lane, London W1J 7QY from 11am.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHotel staff at IHG branded properties, including Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, are being bullied, overworked and underpaid. Their right to freedom of association and collective bargaining denied,” said\u00c2\u00a0Unite regional officer Dave Turnbull.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is according to a report, Unethical IHG, that Unite has submitted with a complaint to the UN Global Compact over breaches to principle 3; freedom of association and collective bargaining.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite wants to see the UN Global Compact step up and defend the integrity of its corporate sustainability initiative. Companies need to understand that promoting and protecting human rights at work is more than just a box ticking exercise,” he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe UN Global Compact has got to mean something. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to be genuine. If it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not, or companies are allowed to get away with picking and choosing the bits that suit, then the whole thing is devalued.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen you have room attendants reporting a culture of fear and bullying, with one saying that she is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098made to feel that I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything right\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, as her manager regularly shouts and asks if \u00e2\u20ac\u0098she can read properly.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 There is a problem. When union reps are then prevented from speaking up for these very same workers, there is an even bigger problem.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIHG needs to be a global leader and start working with Unite to root out low pay, work insecurity, bullying and exploitation in its hotels. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only by working with the union and living up to its commitments that things can start to change in hospitality.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite has lodged a formal complaint to the United Nations Global Compact today (May 1) over the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098unethical\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 anti- trade union behaviour of the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fourth largest and richest hotel chain, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), in breach of its obligations under the UN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s international agreement.   The complaint includes a report, Unethical IHG,\u00c2\u00a0 which details […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[303,92,1168],"wps_subtitle":"Holiday Inn owner, IHG reported to UN Global Compact for \u00e2\u20ac\u0098unethical\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 anti-trade union behaviour","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17971"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25310,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17971\/revisions\/25310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}