It's very appropriate that I'm finishing my visits here in New York. Those of you have been here will know that New York is jam packed full of hotels, however unlike any other city I know of 85% of all these hotels are organised. The New York Hotel Trades Council has 30,000 members and they are one of the best organised and focused union organisations I've ever come across.

Now and then we hear complaints from some of our members that it is too difficult to organise in the hotel sector in London. Every now and then we should remind them that in comparison to some of our Sisters and Brothers in other countries we have it easy. I visited a hotel today which is at the centre of an organising battle being fought by FSPM, our sister union, in Indonesia. The management not only introduced a union busting strategy but brought trumped up criminal charges against some of our activists which resulted them being sentenced to 4 months in jail.

Last night I went to a very special cafe in Bandung. The cafe is called BJ’s but it is better known to its patrons as the ”Solidarity Cafe” and the story behind it should be an inspiration to us all.
16 months ago the workers at the Hotel Aquila joined the FSPM and demanded to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement to improve terms and conditions.
The hotel responded by sacking all the 136 union members.

The stories I keep hearing from workers here in Indonesia are very familiar to me. I've met 6 union chairmen (a union chairman fulfills the same role as a shop steward) and they told me about their struggles to build the union in their hotels. At one 5 star the chairman got sacked and the union mounted noisy demonstrations outside the hotel and forced the international management to meet with them which resulted in reinstatement and a negotiated collective bargaining agreement. As always in struggle there are defeats as well as victories.

I've been in Jakarta for two very busy days now. I was met by Hema from the IUF and members of the Executive of our Sister Union the FSPM including the General Secretary, Benny Nasution.

I accompanied an LHMU hotel organiser to a hotel where the union is close to securing a recognition agreement. I sat in the staff canteen and was able to talk to many of the workers and learn of their experiences. I spoke with housekeepers, porters, receptionists and food and beverage workers. This hotel used to be a Ritz Carlton 10 years ago and i was able to learn of the differences between then and now as it's owned by an international chain. Without exception each worker said that not only were the employment conditions worse but so was the service provided to guests.

For the last two days i've been in Sydney establishing contact with our Sister union the LHMU. I have had meetings with the officers and staff of the LHMU hotels organising team operating in Sydney and the state of New South Wales (NSW).

Phillip Nkosi began work as a waiter in a Sun International hotel in Johannesburg 24 years ago. For the last 22 years he has also been the Shop Steward representing and negotiating on behalf of his fellow workers. Phillip made the decision to become active in his union because he witnessed too much injustice and decided he couldn't stay quite on the sidelines. He has provided leadership ever since.

Sorry about the last couple of days. I had a malfunction followed by an electric storm that knocked out the power supply and the wi-fi - and it's supposed to be summer here!
Saccawu has been very busy trying to resolve their dispute with Sun International and are presently consulting with their members while the management's negotiating team reports back to their Board.

I have spent the day getting an understanding of the Hotel Sector here in (a very wet!) Johannesburg.I was very fortunate that two of our Brothers in SACCAWU met with me to give me the benefit of their experience. Lucas Ramatlhadi is the Administration Co Ordinator for SACCAWU and Mike Sikani is the National Education Secretary for the union. Both men are involved in the dispute with Sun International (about which more later) but found the time to assist me.