On Wednesday, October 9, the IUF, together with Global Labor Justice and the ITUC, launched a new website Accountable Development Finance: Hospitality as a resource for affiliates and allies interested in sectoral approaches to holding development finance institutions (DFI’s) accountable for workers’ rights.
Speakers at the launch event included Maria Helena André, Director of the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV) as well as IUF affiliate leaders Asmaou Bah Doukouré (General Secretary, FHTRC, Guinea), Carlos Aramayo (UNITE HERE Vice-President and President of UNITE HERE Boston Local 26) and Paul Travers (Acting National Officer, Unite the Union, FDA Sector).
- The website features regularly updated statistics on the scope of development finance investments in the hotel sector: over the last 25 years, DFI’s have invested more than 6 billion USD in hotels in over 100 countries
- The centerpiece of the website is an interactive map that tracks hospitality investments by DFI’s; this map allows users to research investments by hotel company, size of investment, and geography and will be regularly updated
- The site also describes the core ILO conventions most frequently violated by employers and proposes a novel policy solution, the Early Engagement Labor Framework Agreement, which would facilitate negotiations over labor rights compliance
Aslim Singh, GAWU General Secretary in Guyana, expressed enthusiasm about the new site: “Thanks to our collaboration with IUF, we were connected with IDB-Invest, which is financing a hotel in our country. That engagement enabled us to engage with the developer and shed light on the labour conditions in the industry. We are optimistic that this will pave the way for better employment conditions in the hotel and drive positive change throughout the sector.”
