A Hotel With No Room For Unions

The upscale Bagan Hotel River View in Myanmar (Burma) is set in a stunning location with fantastic views — but no room for unions.

In response to the international campaign launched by the IUF to defend basic trade union rights at the hotel, management is now screening job applicants to identify potential union supporters.

Applicants are asked if they know anyone who is a union member and are warned that if they join the union they will fail their probation.

Additionally, management attempted to force out older workers active in the union by ordering workers over 60 to resign within 24 hours. When the union protested, these workers were allowed back – on condition they produce a doctor’s certificate.

Workers at the hotel have never been informed of the official retirement policy of KMA Group, since management refuses to provide copies of their employment contracts.

Earlier this year, management attempted to crush the legally registered trade union by compelling the elected officers to sign resignation letters in a closed meeting guarded by hotel security. Five leaders who refused were instantly terminated.

The local authorities have twice issued reinstatement orders, but management has only agreed to formally reinstate them while forbidding them access to their jobs and their members at the hotel. The hotel plans to appeal the reinstatement orders, and the absurd legal system gives them up to two years to appeal.

Please join me in supporting this important struggle for basic trade union rights for hotel workers in Myanmar.

Click here to send a message to the hotel’s owners and management now, demanding they immediately reinstate the trade union leaders to their jobs, cease screening new applicants for pro-union sympathies and fully respect trade union rights.

Thank you!

Eric Lee