Succesful Nordic #FairHousekeeping campaign
In the beginning of November, Nordic unions carried out different actions calling for dignity for hotel housekeepers. It was part of an international campaign to raise awareness.
Written by Jakob Esmann
Under the hashtag #MakeMyWorkplaceSafe, trade unions within the hotel and tourism industry have raised awareness on good and safe working environment for housekeepers. Especially, they called on hotel employers to address the threat of sexual harassment.
The Nordic affiliates of IUF have used the #FairHousekeeping hashtag and this year we focused on cooperation with employers and working conditions in general. All NU HRCT member unions participated in the campaign this year mainly through various seminars, social media and meetings with employees.
Norway focused on improving cooperation with local management
Fellesforbundet in Norway was very active during the action week, and many of its local branches held meetings for the housekeepers around the country to focus on how to improve the working environment in good cooperation with local management. Also, they made local actions at train stations and bus stations to make possible hotel guests aware of the housekeepers’ working conditions. For instance, they distributed this door hanger.
Good experiences from Swedish campaign
The Swedish hotel and restaurant workers union’s newspaper, Hotellrevyn, also wrote about the campaign.Local branches all over Sweden have visited a plenty of hotels to talk to the employees.
The union’s local branch in Southern Sweden visited many hotels in Malmö and Helsingborg. Chairman of the southern branch, Sofie Dahlqvist, told Hotellrevyn about their experience:
“We are talking about what rights you have and about working environment and ergonomics. How to avoid work-related injuries and such. A lot of them said that they are interested in what we do,” she said.
“When you say you come from the union, very often their first reaction is anxiety. A lot of them are a little afraid of talking to us, but after having explained why we are there, they are very positive.”
An international campaign
The Nordic campaign is part of an international initiative addressing the challenges for employees at hotels. Through the IUF’s ‘Make my workplace safe’ initiative, housekeepers around the world have been speaking out against abusive working conditions and organizing to demand that the global hotel industry recognize their dignity, their rights and their trade unions.