BUSINESS NEWS
‘Too many workers suffer low pay and unsafe conditions’
Introducing the report, ITF assistant general secretary Rob Johnston notes: “Too many workers in tourism are living a day-to-day reality of precarious work, low pay and unsafe working conditions. “The emergence of
environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria as serious considerations for investors, businesses, regulators, governments,
Rob Johnston
and human rights, and that “human rights are not well-embedded in investors’ risk assessments”. It proposes seven areas of action
for businesses, governments, investors and trade unions. These include establishing multi-
unions and the millions of workers they represent in travel and tourism presents a welcome opportunity to address fundamental issues that have plagued the sector for decades.” The report identifies “a lack
of senior leadership and board commitment” to improving labour
stakeholder initiatives with strong policy and legislative frameworks and compliance systems, increased access to unions and experts on labour and human rights, ‘double materiality assessments’ on labour and human rights, developing and implementing policies for improving labour and human rights, and communicating the results “transparently”.
Report reveals tourism’s ‘human rights violations’
Ian Taylor
A report on labour and human rights in travel and tourism has concluded many workers “are marginalised and face high risks of exploitation”, especially migrant, informal and undeclared workers in the industry. The report, entitled ‘Why
the S in ESG matters’, is based on research by Dr Anke Winchenbach of the University of Surrey and was commissioned by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the IUF union representing food, agriculture, hotel, restaurant, catering and allied workers internationally. Launched this week, the study
draws on interviews with industry leaders including representatives of Tui and the World Travel & Tourism Council, industry investors and global trade unions, and analyses data and research on labour and human rights. It notes travel and tourism “is
travelweekly.co.uk
characterised by a high number of migrant workers and high levels of informal and undeclared work” and reports: “Migrant workers are exposed to many of the industry’s exploitative working conditions [and] their plight exacerbated by a lack of reporting of abuse out of fear of reprisals, job loss, revocation of immigration status, low levels of legal protection, inability to access support, language barriers and low union representation. “Documented labour and human
rights violations include below minimum wage salaries, no freedom of association, discrimination, no unemployment protection, health and safety violations, and forced and child labour.” The report notes that while data
on
on migrant labour in the industry “is not widely available”, the Or
s
O ganisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development estimates 1
10% of the global h
of E
hospitality workforce are migrants and iin 2020, “16%
of EU and 20% of US
tourism workers were foreign-born”. It also notes the UN Business &
Human Rights Navigator initiative identified hospitality as “a high-risk industry” for forced labour driven by outsourcing and subcontracting of services, and business consultancy PwC found “progress around diversity and inclusion in travel and tourism” lags “10 to 20 points behind other industries”. The report concludes: “Undignified
labour conditions in travel and tourism have been a concern for decades, [and] limited progress has been made toward improving labour conditions.”
Booking.com loses case over hotel price-parity rates
The European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruled last week that
Booking.com can’t compel hotels to adhere to price-parity clauses in contracts to prevent them undercutting the platform’s prices on their own websites. The ruling on September 20
followed a referral by the District Court of Amsterdam over a dispute between
Booking.com – designated a ‘gatekeeper’ under the EU’s Digital Markets Act – and several German hotel companies. The decision was welcomed
by European hospitality association Hotrec which hailed it as a “major victory for fairness and transparency in the online accommodation market”. Booking has yet to respond. Both a German court and the
German Federal Cartel Office had ruled the price-parity clauses contrary to EU competition law. But Booking brought a case in Amsterdam claiming the clauses were lawful, and the court sought a CJEU ruling. The court noted Booking offers
a range of accommodation offers which allows users to compare. But it found: “Booking has not established price-parity clauses are objectively necessary. Such clauses . . . are liable to reduce competition between hotel reservation platforms [and] carry the risk of ousting small platforms and new entrants.”
The CJEU, Luxembourg
26 SEPTEMBER 2024 55
Shutterstock/Alexandros Michailidis
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