The Impact of Curtailment of Award System in the Tourism Industry
Introduction
Tourism on an international and domestic level acts as a huge factor in economic growth and the alleviation of poverty. It is the most effective economic contributor to developing countries as considered by many observers. The demand created by consumers, using the tourism product, creates millions of jobs worldwide. (2006)
However, the curtailment of the award system affects negatively the people working in the industry and the tourism itself as a whole since this curtailment enabled employers to put in the workplace the agreements that lower the rates of pay and some working conditions such as the no overtime rates for weekend work and less working flexible working hours. Employers, on the contrary, benefit a lot in this curtailment.
Body Paragraph
Low wages, poor conditions and negligible promotion prospects become consistent across the tourism sector in both rich and poor countries. In some sectors of the industry there is a high turnover of staff but this often goes hand-in-glove with low wages, long hours, no professional development and no promotion opportunities. (2004)
The concern for job security, over-dependence on tips and service charge, long hours and unpaid overtime become unswerving across numerous destinations in the tourism industry because of such curtailments. These were confirmed by the research gathered by the International Travel and Tourism Research Team (ITTRT) led by the Tourism Concern and from interviews and published data. ( 2004)
For long-term staffing solutions, hotels are increasingly using casual or part-time workers. The professed benefit is better efficiency. However, this means that hotels evade having to pay benefits; thus creating a flexible workforce that can be laid off when occupancy is low. (2004)
Furthermore, casual workers and no contract workers are at risk to abuse and unfair dismissal. In addition, temporary contract workers even if they have been working that way for many years are often unable to secure bank loans for housing. ( 2004)
This run across the policy for the tourism sector of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco, and Allied Workers’ Association (IUF) that the hotels, restaurants, caterings and tourism sector should put a priority on the creation of stable, permanent, full-time jobs. (2004)
“One of the most respected 5-star hotels in Thailand hires as much as one third of its staff on a temporary basis and has kept some of those employees working that way for five or even five years. Part-time workers are ineligible for paid maternity leave or vacation leave, welfare benefits, severance pay or union membership”, according to Apirat Nutamarn, president of the Hotel Workers’ Federation of Thailand. ( 2004)
Daniel Edralin, a tourism worker representative from the Philippines at a recent International Labour Organization (ILO) meeting said that, “Employers in the Philippines were using the curtailment issues, as a pretext to switch to subcontracted workers. Now new hotels are being opened in the Philippines where nearly everyone is subcontracted”. (2004)
Moreover, according to Miguel Guerra of the Canaries Federation of Commerce, Hotels and Tourism (CFCHT), the most significant effect of the curtailment of award system was the abuse of labor rights of those workers that are on temporary contracts since they tend to work unpaid overtime, long hours and sometimes not even getting their two days off a week. (2004)
Workers in hotels, caterings and other sector of tourism industry are reported to feel tiredness and physically exhausted according to a number of research reports. This was further worsened by the curtailment of the award system. Due to excessively long working hours and noisy below deck conditions, employees on cruise liners face high stress levels. In a very limited time, cooks and waiters have to make good quality products. (2004)
Waiters, also, in an inadequate time, have to accommodate the wishes of the guests, the constraints of the cooks and the harassment of supervisors as well as to produce the good service. The room attendants and housemaids, on the other hand, have to involve in a faster pace of work to be completed within the shift feeling the physical strain and the conflicting demands from the guest and management. (2004)
Conversely, the low and minimum wages were justified by hotels and tour operators through the existence of service charges and tips. Tips are optional. Service charge, on the other hand, is a compulsory charged added to the bill and intended to be used to pay the staff or the worker. Over-dependency on or unpaid service charges and tips is also a major concern for hotel’s and tourism workers brought about by the curtailment in the remuneration aspect. ( 2004)
The common place for workers in the tourism industry especially from the hotel sector is for workers to expect to do overtime without getting paid. This was suggested in a numerous complaints from workers in such sector. Less time with family members, becoming physically and mentally exhausted and feeling of being aggrieved because of not being paid properly were the impact of that situation to the workers. Thus, it seems to be that the curtailment become more detrimental to them. ( 2004)
In addition, there are few opportunities to progress from entry level front line positions through to senior management within the tourism-hotel sector since most multinational hotels recruit senior management through international recruiting or from the parent company. Likewise, it’s not easy to cross-post from one department to another. These limit the ability of employees to gain a wide range of experience across the industry. Thus, the absence of such experience diminishes the opportunities for promotion to management. (2004)
The Case of Australia: Minimum Wage
The statutory minimum wage in Australia already sits at a considerably high level compared to many other developed countries. This is a concern for the tourism and hospitality industry, one of the largest industries in Australia struggling to demonstrate any real economic growth since it employed more than 500, 000 employees contributing approximately five percent of Australia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 2006
This concern was further emphasized by the Econ Tech Report’s literature review on the relationship between employment and the minimum wage. Econ Tech found out that most international studies show that the higher the minimum wage reduces employment. 2006
Moreover, the paper, ‘Minimum Wage Laws and the Wage Regulation: Do Changes to a Minimum Wage Affect Employment Levels’ by contained in The University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia Law Journal Volume 29 found out that, “If the empirical evidence is applied to Australia, it clearly demonstrates that the national minimum wage in Australia has probably resulted in deprivation in employment and unemployment in the same way that it has in every other country in the world where it has been studied. There is no reason to consider that Australia is a special or different case. Similarly, it should be expected that these unemployment and deprivation of employment effects will be disproportionately experienced by workers who are young, female or low skilled.” 2006
Thus, the Australian Government has enshrined minimum conditions of employment in the Australian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard (AFPCS). The Australian Fair Pay Commission (AFPC) has been established to set minimum safety net wages and casual loadings. 2006
The new system provides for the maintenance of a system of awards. However, the Government is committed to reducing the proliferation of awards many of which include conditions that are the result of the particular needs of an industry or occupation at a certain point in history. 2006
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) believes that there is sufficient evidence to indicate that a rise to the minimum wage rates hinders jobs growth particularly for the lower skilled in the community. 2006
Likewise, the AFPC has responsibility for providing minimum wages for junior employees, employees to whom training arrangements apply and employees with disabilities that ensure those employees are competitive in the labor market. 2006
The AHA, then, recommends that the AFPC maintains the current practice of discounting minimum wages to protect the interests of junior employees and people with disabilities. 2006
Conclusion
Tourism is a partnership sector that depends on several actors from several parts of the world. Further, it implies contacts, negotiations and coordinated policy measured and common fights against natural and human based enemies being a partnership sector. But in the end nobody is capable of saying that without tourism the world can progress, the economies can develop and the society can improve.
In view of the evidences that abusive employment conditions are widespread within the tourism industry and its supply chain, worsen by the curtailment in the award system, wide knowledge based on labor standards in the tourism industry and the improve communications on labor standard must be develop.
And lastly, in considering whether to increase minimum wages, the focus should be on the competitiveness of relative participants in the market.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment