At the end of July 2021, management at the Marriott Bandung Hotel dismissed 12 members of the Federation of Hotel, Restaurant, Plaza, Apartment, Catering and Tourism Workers’ Free Union (FSPM), including the union president, under the guise of “efficiency”. The real reason was that they had reported labour rights violations at the hotel.
In April 2020, the union and Marriott management negotiated an agreement on temporary wage reductions in exchange for job security protections during the COVID-related temporary closure of the hotel. In January 2021, management broke the agreement by unilaterally imposing further wage cuts, abolishing the weekly day off as well as overtime pay, all violations of labour regulations.
After management refused to respond to the union’s requests to reverse these changes and negotiate alternative measures to help reduce costs, the union reported the violations to the Manpower Department.
On 8 July 2021, the Labour Department met with union members and carried out an inspection of the hotel to verify these violations; three weeks later, management announced the layoffs of 12 union members, including the union president.
