Around 1.000 Icelandic hotel housekeepers are going on a strike tomorrow at the International Women‘s Day to demand living wages and better working conditions in the industry.
The housekeeping industrial action on the 8th of March applies to cleaning, housekeeping and laundry services for rooms and other sleeping accommodation and connected areas and services, for example in corridors, toilets and shared spaces, in all hotels and guesthouses in the area which Efling has jurisdiction over, which includes the areas of Reykjavík, and neighboring towns.
Two of our member organization in Iceland, SGS and MATVIS, both affiliated to EFFAT and IUF, have been in intensive negotiation with employer for more than three months, which still have not resulted in a new collective agreement. The unions demand is a substantial raise in minimum wages, shorter working week, tax reform, affordable housing and rent control. Efling and two other local unions of SGS, decided to break away from the central negotiation table and push for a new collective agreement through industrial actions and strikes. Further action are planned later.
Here below you can find a support letter from the NU HRCT to our colleagues in Iceland and I ask you to send a letter of support to these brave hotel housekeepers in Iceland. We ask to convey your support to efling@efling.is and sgs@sg.is
