The First Star thinks this hotel has gone to great lengths to make sure none of their staff get access to the new IR laws that came into effect on 1 July this year. In June this hotel persuaded all of their workers to sign an unfair new contract, while taking all available steps to keep workers uninformed about their rights. In fact, management at Marriott Hotel Sydney Harbour were responsible for implementing this unfair new contract on Marriott employees nationwide.
Supervisors and managers have told The First Star they were told to make sure their workers didn’t speak up about the new contract. In fact supervisors were told they would be assessed according to how their employees responded. Staff who were seen questioning the contract or trying to speak with union representatives were “counselled” by their supervisor.
What part of “right to free association” doesn’t this hotel get? The First Star believes that the directive to “counsel” staff who wanted to find out about their rights at work is bordering on the creepy.
We understand that staff rosters at the Marriott are changed with only 2 or 3 days notice and that the rate of injuries among workers is high. The reports of bullying and being expected to work until the work is done – without being paid overtime – continue at this hotel.
The First Star has also discovered that workers at Marriott Hotels earn just 2.5 per cent above the base minimum wage.
Is it greenwash or an authentic commitment to preserve the environment for future generations? No one really knows and that’s a problem for this hotel and every other luxury hotel in Australia. This lack of a consistent, authoritative and transparent environmental rating system really means that no one can be sure if they’re being snowed by marketing or actually making a difference.
The parent company, Marriott International has lots of different ‘green’ programs, including certified green golf courses, an offset program that allows their guests to pay for rainforest preservation in the Amazon (promoted under the phrase “green your hotel stay for $1 a day” and also extends to ‘green meetings’ options), and have a range of ‘green’ purchasing schemes (including ‘annual purchases of 47 million BIC Ecolutions™ pens designed for Marriott, made from pre-consumer recycled plastic’) Whether all these initiatives amount to real change is less clear. The Marriott Brisbane participated in Earth Hour.
