Tuesday, April 17, 2007
"High Road Partnerships" Proposed to Help Hotel Workers
In the Toronto Star series War on Poverty, writer Nicholas Keung profiles hotel workers in Toronto. The hotel industry has seen the elimination of full-time jobs in favour of part-time, casual and subcontracted work, and those positions have seen a decrease real wages and benefits and a substantial cut to training budgets. Keung says:
“To a large degree, poverty in the industry is segmented along race and gender lines. Among its lowest earners, room attendants and laundry workers, 93 per cent are immigrants; 82 per cent are visible minorities; and 80 per cent are women.”
The Task Force on the Toronto Hotel Industry has released a report encouraging “high road economic partnerships” that would benefit both workers and employers. The goal of these high road partnerships is to “build an economy based on skills, innovation, opportunity, sustainability and equitably shared prosperity rather than on low-road practices that lower living and working standards and weaken communities.”
The report makes several recommendations:
- Bringing up wages and benefits to living standards
- work to eliminate racial and gender bias in hiring, promotion, and workplace practices through equity programs
- Comprehensive training and equal opportunity initiative
- Support work and family life through measures such as flexible working hours, personal days, workplace child care programs, and extended parental leave and benefits
- Encourage supports, such as affordable child care, housing and transit
The report is not yet available online, but once it is published, we’ll provide a link here.
Labels: Resources_and_Research
