The hospitality and tourism sector is a large and rapidly expanding industry worldwide, and can rightfully be described as a vehicle of globalization. A roundtable of speakers will address the issues Tuesday as part of the Global Labour Speaker Series.
“A Hospitable World? Hotel Workers Organizing the Global Hospitality Industry” will take place Nov. 18, from 3 to 5pm, at S701 Ross Building, Keele campus. The event is hosted by the Global Labour Research Centre and the Department of Geography.
The roundtable will be comprised of Josh Cuasay, organizer, UNITE HERE Local 75; Professor David Jordhus-Lier, Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo; Monica McKenzie, organizer, UNITE HERE Local 75; Lis Pimentel, president, UNITE HERE Local 75; and
Guled Warsame, organizer, UNITE HERE Local 75. It will be moderated by York Professor Steven Tufts.
Hotels are among the cornerstones of the industry often drawing workers from the most vulnerable segments of multicultural labour markets, accommodating and entertaining tourists and business travellers from around the world.
This roundtable will discuss the hotel workplace as a hierarchical and fragmented social space as well as addressing questions on worker mobility, the fragmentation of work, scales of organisation and how workers can help shape the regulation of their industry.
For more information, visit the Global Labour Research Centre website or e-mail glrc@yorku.ca.