Rising prices condemn luxury hotel workers to poverty


Today’s rise in the cost of living is piling financial misery on Melbourne’s luxury hotel workers, who are already struggling to survive on poverty pay even as luxury hotels steal their wages and condemn them to dangerous working conditions.

Hilton South WharfThe Australian Bureau of Statistics said today that the Consumer Price Index – the main measure of cost-of-living increases in Australia – rose by 0.7% in the third quarter of the year, bringing the rise in annual inflation to 2.8%.

“Most hotel room attendants are lucky to make $450 a week,” said Jess Walsh, Victorian secretary of LHMU Hotels Union.

“Today’s rise in inflation means that room attendants at luxury hotels are falling even further behind,” said Walsh.

“Some of our most opulent hotels, like the Hilton and the Langham, are charging more and more for their rooms – as much as $1500 a night – while the people who work so hard to clean them are being plunged deeper and deeper into poverty.”

Langham Hotel“Room attendants at Hilton’s hotels in Melbourne have reported taking home an average of $435.70 a week, while Langham workers tell us they earn $464.70.”

“And many Melbourne room attendants must work overtime to get their jobs done properly, extra hours for which they are rarely paid. These stolen wages could add $10,000 a year to their income.”

“Melbourne room attendants are so poorly paid that some are rationing food, falling behind in rent or mortgage and cannot afford to buy new clothes,” Walsh said.

She said that many of the 330 four- and five-star Melbourne hotel room attendants surveyed this year felt that prices were rising as wages were stagnating.

“In a recent survey of room attendants in Melbourne, we found that 87% said that wages were not keeping up with the rising cost of living,” Walsh said.

Last week, the Salvation Army released its Perceptions of Poverty report, revealing there has been a “drastic increase” in the number of working poor in Australia.

Margarita Murray-Stark has been a room attendant for decades and in that time her pay has barely budged.

“I started 24 years ago and since then my pay has only increased by about $8,” Margarita says. “Everything else has gone up except our wages.”

And the pain is likely to get worse, with analysts predicting that the RBA will soon hike interest rates, forcing up mortgages and rent for struggling room attendants.

“Christmas is always a very tough time for our room attendants, but this Christmas looks like being the bleakest of all,” said Walsh.

“We are calling on luxury hotels like the Hilton and Langham to work with us to make these jobs better. Their workers are demanding fair pay, a fair workload and respect.”