On Thursday, October 7 IUF affiliate FHTRC-ONSLG will mark the one year anniversary of the terminations of the Sheraton Grand Conakry Workers Union General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary. Actions will include a press conference announcing the formation of a new coalition of trade unions in Guinea, including hotel workers, miners, teachers, bankers and administrators. This new coalition will publicly commit to undertake solidarity actions until the union leaders are reinstated.
- After years of petitions and mobilizations with the IUF’s support, workers at the Topaz Group-owned IFC-financed Sheraton Grand Conakry voted for their union in February 2020; since then, the union has battled a relentless anti-union campaign while still managing to win wage increases and improved benefits
- On October 7, 2020, in a brazen and illegal move, Topaz Group terminated the two principal union leaders General Secretary Amadou Diallo and Deputy General Secretary Alhassane Diallo for their representation of a co-worker had accidentally broken a flower pot
- Despite the IUF’s numerous complaints to the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, with support from Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum and the ITUC, Topaz Group continues to violate the IFC’s labour requirements on a daily basis
IUF General Secretary Sue Longley stated, “Despite COVID-19, Ebola and the recent coup d’état, the workers at the Sheraton Grand Conakry have shown Topaz Group, Marriott and the IFC that they will not stop fighting until their two union leaders are reinstated and the freedom of association is guaranteed for all workers across Guinea.”
