With the acquisition of Starwood, Marriott has become the largest hotel company in the world with over 6,400 hotels in 126 countries, over 220,000 employees globally, and global profits of almost USD 1 billion. Marriott’s growth continues with at least one new hotel opening each day.
Today, the world is focused on ending sexual harassment and gender-based violence at work. Marriott workers though were clear that sexual harassment is endemic in the hotel industry, and that existing measures to prevent or remedy the problem are inadequate.
EFFAT fully supports Marriot workers worldwide and their demands jointly presented to Marriot to undertake:
1. Measures to prevent or discourage sexual harassment
2. Measures to respond to incidents of sexual harassment immediately
3. Measures to ensure that workers are encouraged and feel safe to come forward with complaints of sexual harassment, and that these complaints are dealt with fairly and promptly
Supporting the action coordinated by the IUF, the global union representing more than 10 million workers in sectors including hotels, restaurants and catering services, EFFAT calls on Marriott to partner towards meeting these goals.
In particular, we would like Marriott to be a leader on ending sexual harassment in the global hotel industry by creating a safe work environment in all of its hotels around the globe.
The situation is not unique to Marriott, but Marriott is uniquely placed to transform it, and set a new standard for the world’s hotel industry.
Indeed, given the size of Marriott and its global reach, EFFAT believes that the only credible means of stakeholder engagement at this scale requires that Marriott partners with our Global Union Federation, the IUF.
