Hotel unions pressing for more cleaning in pandemic
Worker representatives decry reduced services, industry says limiting room visits is safer
Many hotels are cutting down on daily cleaning during the pandemic, and they say it’s for the safety of their guests and employees. But unions representing hospitality workers say it’s a cost-cutting measure and that it’s actually making things less safe.
Guled Warsame, president of Unite Here local 75, which represents hospitality workers in Toronto and southcentral Ontario, said occupancy in hotels is currently very low.
Many hotels in North America (Unite Here has around 300,000 members across the continent) are cutting down on daily room cleaning, said Warsame — instead, workers have to do a much deeper clean after a guest leaves. Cleaning staff often have room quotas, he said, adding those quotas haven’t necessarily changed even though the rooms require extra cleaning.
“We believe that there is more cleaning needed, not less,” Warsame said. He said some hotels have changed their tactics after pressure from the union.
“Unfortunately this virus doesn’t discriminate between guests and workers, so we just want to make sure everyone’s protected.”
Stephanie Fung, communications specialist for Unite Here local 40 in British Columbia, agreed.
She said workers are telling the union it’s more difficult to clean between stays, and the union believes daily cleaning is safer.
Unite Here cited research and public health guidelines as proof that daily room cleaning should continue
throughout the pandemic.
A June 29 memo from the Yale School of Occupational and Environmental Medicine provided to the Star by Unite Here recommends that public areas of hotels should be stringently cleaned and so should rooms during guests’ stay, unless the guest has symptoms or a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19.
The Hotel Association of Canada and the American Hotel & Lodging Association released a joint document outlining hotel cleaning standards in response to COVID-19.
The document describes enhanced cleaning standards of guest rooms, but says housekeeping staff should not enter guests’ rooms during their stay “unless specifically requested, or approved, by the guest, or to comply with established safety protocols.”
Susie Grynol, president and CEO of the Hotel Association of Canada, said in an email statement that “many hotels are limiting in-room cleaning during guests’ stays as a safety measure.”
Colin Furness, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, said while stringent cleaning between guests is of high importance, he doesn’t think daily room cleaning is worth the risk to employees and guests.
“I think it is safer to have less contact, and I think that’s what the hotels are doing,” he said. “There’s no advantage to a guest having someone come into their room.”
If the guest is out, Furness said, the risk of an employee contracting or spreading COVID-19 while cleaning the room is much lower, but he still thinks that serious cleaning between guests is what’s necessary. And even better if the room can be left alone for several days. “If they’re not busy, there’s no cost to doing that.
“Either they’re sick or they’re not, and going and cleaning the room is not going to change that one way or the other.”