PARIS, Sept 30 — As Paris switched into fashion high-gear yesterday a group of chambermaids working for the luxury Park Hyatt hotel staged a “fashion week for the poor” to celebrate victory in a labour dispute.
Dressed up with splashes of colour and sequins about 60 chambermaids and various other workers from the Park Hyatt marched to another hotel, the W Paris Opera, where workers were still striking for better working conditions.
The Hyatt workers were celebrating their victory after a strike on Monday saw them obtain double pay for public holidays worked, and increased meal and travel allowances.
“We are doing a fashion week for the poor,” laughed one of the marching women, who asked not to be named.
“I am happy today. We give our all for our job,” said Hyatt employee Jessica Gastou, 38, a mother of four who has worked at the upmarket hotel for 15 years.
Workers at the hotel carried out similar strikes in 2013 and 2014 — also as the trendy jet-set attending fashion week descended on Paris — and won a large salary increase.
Last year several other glitzy hotels also fell prey to the strikes by workers who can earn less in a month than the nightly price of a hotel room.
While the Hyatt workers have been successful, those at the W Paris Opera hotel extended their strike to today hoping for a similar improvement in working conditions. — AFP
