{"id":691,"date":"2014-08-12T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T07:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=691"},"modified":"2014-08-12T16:34:57","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T15:34:57","slug":"verbal-abuse-constant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=691","title":{"rendered":"“The verbal abuse is constant”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In our second installment of this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Living Wage series, UniteLive spoke to a London hotel worker who works exhausting night shifts for poverty wages.<\/p>\n

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Gabriel Garza* has worked as a hotel receptionist for the past 10 years, and he has the gravelly voice of a man who hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t slept in at least that long.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople think that if you work night shifts, you just switch your sleep schedule \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sleep during the day and stay awake at night\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand everything is fine. But it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work that way. People aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t meant to be nocturnal beings. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very difficult to get enough sleep during the daytime. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m always exhausted.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Garza usually works five days a week, from 10:45am\u00c2\u00a0 to 7:15am.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI used to work from 11pm to 7am, but on the new contract, they cut our break time by 30 minutes,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve often offered me additional shifts, but I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do it. I have to rest.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Garza earns above the minimum wage, but he still falls short of the London Living Wage of \u00c2\u01418.80 an hour. With the price of necessities like food, gas and transport skyrocketing, Garza says he often struggles to get by.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEspecially in London, you have to constantly be adding everything in your head. \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Will I have enough this month?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is something I often ask myself.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Garza tells of the stress and fatigue he battles on the job. As a night receptionist, he must contend with more demanding and often very drunk guests. In the middle of the night, he may get \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwalk-ins,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 or customers who have not made reservations.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI sometimes have to turn them down if there are no rooms, and they can get very angry. The verbal abuse I face from customers is constant.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Garza says the stress of his job has bled into his personal life, too.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSince you have to catch up on sleep on your days off, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really have a social life. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have nights out with friends like normal people. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t relax; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m always on edge.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Garza says that if he did get paid the Living Wage, he would notice the difference instantly. He cites being able to take a sick day, which he currently doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get paid for, as a perk he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be able to enjoy if he earned more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI force myself to work even when I have a really bad cold. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to take a sick day now.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very frustrating to hear employers say they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to pay their workers a decent wage,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Garza says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI charge customers so I know exactly how much the room rates are. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re incredibly expensive. And the rooms are always booked. There is no way they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to pay us more.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Name changed to protect identity<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our second installment of this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Living Wage series, UniteLive spoke to a London hotel worker who works exhausting night shifts for poverty wages.   Gabriel Garza* has worked as a hotel receptionist for the past 10 years, and he has the gravelly voice of a man who hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t slept in at least that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[23],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=691"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":694,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions\/694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}