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The secretary of
International Union Action of the State Federation of Commerce, Hotel and
Tourism Workers of Comisiones Obreras (FECOHT - CCOO), Fernando Medina, gave
Sirel his first impressions of the outcome of the “Spanish Hotel Chains in Latin
America and Union Rights” Conference, just held in Buenos Aires.
“Towards a
future assessment of the specific results of this meeting, we can highlight
three conclusions: The first is that the report presented by the IUF’s
Latin American Office, Rel-UITA, is a truly useful tool, as it allows us
to gain insight into a state of affairs that we want to change, and, as was
pointed out at the event, we need to expand this report even more, going into
greater detail.
Another
conclusion is that, for the first time ever, the IUF’s Latin American
Regional Secretariat has specifically addressed the issue of Spanish
transnational corporations operating in the hotel industry and the obstacles
that prevent workers in several countries from forming and maintaining labor
organizations.
Thirdly I’d
like to highlight the degree of commitment of the region’s hotel workers’
federations and unions; I also thought it was a good idea to have workers from
the restaurant sector present –even though we did not specifically discuss their
problems–, as it is an area that the IUF is trying to mobilize and
organize on a global level through a Working Group. If we incorporate in due
time these workers from Chile and Brazil, we will be contributing
to reduce that Group’s Eurocentrism,” Medina observed.
“As for my
union, and myself, personally –he added–, it’s the satisfaction of having gained
insight into Spanish transnational corporations and how they operate in this
region, which until now we had only glimpsed intuitively.”
“At CCOO
we are aware that with these transnational corporations it is not enough to
mobilize at the national level. These hotel chains are investing more and more
beyond our borders, and that affects us in one way or another. While the
companies see it as a diversification of their investments, giving them
protection against any crises that may occur at the local level, for workers it
means trouble.
There are
investments that should stay in Spain, but it’s more profitable to take
them elsewhere –Medina continued. In some countries of Latin America
these companies are generating clearly backward labor practices, enabled by gaps
in legislation or lack of unionization, and these practices could be imported
into our country in the future. We can’t limit our negotiations with a Spanish
chain to the problems we have in Spain, while we ignore the rest of the
world. If we want to be the least bit effective we have to integrate these two
dimensions. That’s what our international labor organizations are for, but these
bilateral relations between CCOO and Rel-UITA are also necessary
and positive, as they allow us to incorporate different perspectives and better
defend the interests of our members in Spain. If we don’t do this now,
things will be much harder in the future. So, besides expressing our solidarity,
we also have our own interest for participating in these exchanges,” Fernando
Medina concluded.
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