Iceland: hotel housekeepers strike for a living wage on International Women’s Day

Hotel housekeepers in Iceland will be on strike on International Women’s Day in support of their demand for a a living wage and better working conditions. Some one thousand housekeepers working in hotels and guesthouses in and around the capital Reykjavik, a majority of them immigrant women, will take part in the strike.

The workers are members of Efling, a member union of the IUF-affiliated SGS federation. Efling organizes workers in food processing, agriculture, fisheries in addition to hotels and restaurants and other sectors.

Negotiations for a new collective agreement in the tourism sector between Efling and the employers have been deadlocked for months over the employers’ resistance to union demands for an increase in the base wage, affordable housing and a shorter working week. Further industrial action is planned if no collective agreement is agreed.