Tulum, Q.R. — More than two dozen hotel workers demonstrated outside their place of employment Tuesday saying the hotel has not respected their agreement. Employees from the Copal Hotel in Tulum said they are owed tips and food vouchers as well as other benefits.
The group said the hotel has not been respecting their collective bargaining agreement, a situation that has been ongoing for nearly three months. Workers outside the hotel also claimed waiters are not given their tips.
Claudio Cortés Méndez, delegate of the Confederación Revolucionaria de Obreros y Campesinos (CROC) Union of Tulum, agreed that the company continues to have these types of issues with their staff.
While it has been ongoing throughout the year, it has worsened in the last several months, he confirmed. In addition to the non-compliance with the payment of food vouchers and tips, the hotel has so far also not fulfilled other commitments agreed to at the beginning of the year, he added.
In January, the Copal Hotel was verbally condemned by Tulum Mayor Marciano Dzul Caamal after the firing of several hotel workers for speaking Maya at work. Caamal, who is also Mayan, addressed the situation publicly in his native tongue.
In his video, Caamal said that he would support those of the Copal Hotel who were discriminated against for speaking their Mayan language in an act that he called outright discrimination that violates human rights.