After almost six months since the Sheraton Grand Conakry closed its doors, hundreds of workers are facing the end of their temporary unemployment, and the IUF is calling on the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) to intervene to avoid economic devastation. No renovations have begun since the hotel closed in December, and despite regular mobilizations of the workers led by IUF affiliate FHTRC-ONSLG, neither the owner Palma Guinea nor the operator Marriott has yet committed to extend the workers’ temporary unemployment benefits until the hotel reopens.
Click here to watch Sheraton Grand Conakry workers describe what the end of their temporary unemployment benefits would mean for them and their families:
The union is calling on the IFC, Palma Guinea and Marriott to:
- Extend the workers’ temporary unemployment benefits until the hotel reopens
- Guarantee the right of the existing workforce to return to their jobs when the hotel reopens
- Suspend short-term bank loan repayments while the hotel remains closed
- Allow access for the IUF’s Occupational Health and Safety Coordinator to the hotel to evaluate the extent of the contamination and to develop the union’s proposal for a risk assessment
Asmaou Bah, General Secretary of FHTRC-ONSLG, stated, “If the IFC is going to live up to its commitment to alleviate poverty, they must act now to ensure the extension of the workers’ temporary unemployment benefits. The hotel will reopen and our members want to return to their jobs, but we need action now to keep our members and their families from extreme poverty, homelessness and hunger.”
