INVESTIGATION OF DECENT WORK PRACTICES IN TOURIST HOTELS IN TANZANIA

Abstract

The study investigated Decent Work practices in Tourist Hotels in Tanzania, A case of five selected hotels in Arusha city. The reasons of investigating decent work practices in tourist hotels in Tanzania was centered on the fact that, the study lacked empirical evidence on whether decent work agenda is practiced in these hotels, provided that Tanzania as ILO member state promotes and protects the agenda through national labour laws and international instruments. Specifically, the study examined the status of working conditions; the practice of workers’ fundamental rights and protection; the practice of social protection; and the practice of social dialogue in tourist hotels in Tanzania. The Psychology of Working Theory, and interdependences of decent work pillars model were employed to support the study. Aqualitative approach based on exploratory design was employed. In-depth interview was used as a method for data collection. Thematic analysis was then employed to analyze the collected data. The findings revealed that the overall practice of decent work in tourist hotels in Tanzania is very poor especially in the medium, low and unrated star hotels compared to high rated hotels. Employment in tourist hotels is characterized by poor working conditions such as long hours of work, lack of monetary overtime payments, absence of monetary payment on public holidays, insecurities, low wages which are below the minimum wage law, poor Occupational Health Safety standards, short-term or non-existence of employment contracts, poor enforcement of regulations, unlawful termination of employment, workplace harassment, discrimination, inadequate exercise of the right to freedom of association, restricted collective bargaining practices, insufficient health insurance coverage, poor remittance of employees’ contributions to NSSF and poor social dialogue practices. It is therefore recommended that the government through its responsible ministry should effectively ensure compliance with labour laws in tourist hotels through strengthening labour inspection services in order to effectively ensure compliance of employment standards that promote the practice of decent work in tourist hotels.