Senior Hospitality Campaign Organizer

Position description

Global Labor Justice (GLJ) brings strategic capacity to cross-sectoral work on global value chains and labor migration corridors. GLJ holds global corporations accountable for labor rights violations in their supply chains, advances policies and laws that protect decent work and just migration, and strengthens freedom of association, new forms of bargaining, and worker organizations.

GLJ has a team of over 20 staff people, based in our Washington, D.C. office and around the world, committed to defending labor rights and building worker power in the global economy.

Position Summary

The Senior Hospitality Campaign Organizer will be responsible for leading campaigns to defend global worker rights and build worker power in the hospitality sector. Our current campaigns focus on supporting the IUF – International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Association – and its affiliates in organizing hotel workers in Africa and the Caribbean. In recent years, we have succeeded in supporting unions, primarily in Africa, in organizing thousands of hotel workers.

Responsibilities include developing strategy with trade union partners, developing and mobilizing diverse and effective allies, and building programs with unions that expand membership and labor rights including freedom of association and collective bargaining.

This Senior Hospitality Campaign Organizer will report to the Hospitality Organizing Director and work within GLJ’s hospitality program. The Senior Hospitality Campaign Organizer will also collaborate with research, legal, and communications staff.

Key Responsibilities:

Area #1: Develop and lead campaigns that defend labor rights and build worker power for hospitality workers.

• Plan and execute sophisticated and winning campaign strategies by working with hospitality worker unions, GLJ staff, and allies.
• Train union leaders and organizers in the methods of bottom-up union organizing, committee building, and mobilization.
• Coordinate campaign messaging, traditional media work, presentations, and mass communications.
• Build and maintain strategic allies in the labor and civil society arena in support of GLJ’s hospitality program campaigns.
• Build trust with partners and move the campaign forward through joint decision making and strategy.
• Plan for and provide anti-retaliation support to partners, union leaders, and activists who come under threat for organizing, including rapid cross-organizational responses to retaliation.
• Lead with a learning mentality including regular assessment and adjustment of campaigns.

Area #2: Deepen key strategic long-term partnerships with unions, federations, and worker organizations in the sector.

• Build and maintain relationships of trust and mutual learning while executing shared strategy. The Senior Hospitality Campaign Organizer must understand the importance of following the lead of our partner organizations and unions while remaining true to GLJ’s organizational values and mission.
• Develop and implement capacity building with partners and allies that contributes to winning campaigns and core organizational strength.
• Track changes in the sector and identify trends and emerging opportunities to move key issues and new potential campaigns.

Area #3: Conduct research and write reports on hospitality campaign work

• Draft complaints and memos for use in our legal and policy work.
• Conduct research on hotel and other hospitality companies to deepen our understanding of targets and prioritization.
• Update the campaign website with reports on activities.

Area #4: Represent GLJ in key global labor and policy spaces related to the sector.

• Represent GLJ in key consultative and campaign spaces in coordination with other staff.
• Understand and align the different interests of ally organizations and work to build strong alliances to support the core goals of our partners and of GLJ.
• Collaborate with legal and policy staff in national, regional, and global labor and human rights spaces.

Competencies and Qualifications

The ideal candidate is a driven and experienced organizer, campaigner, and strategist who believes deeply in the importance of strengthening the leadership and power of labor organizations in the Global South. Specific competencies and qualifications include:

• 5+ years’ experience in labor organizing campaigns including experience developing strategy and coordinating activities (experience in the hospitality industry preferred but not required).
• Experience as a trainer of union organizers with low-wage workers, leading campaigns from initial targeting and recruitment, through going public, overcoming the company campaign and winning.
• Record achieving specific, measurable wins from corporate and/or policy campaigns.
• Ability to successfully sustain work through staff, partners, and allies over multi-year campaigns.
• Knowledge of the political, economic, and labor contexts in Africa and/or the Caribbean or willingness to learn.
• Ability and willingness to travel globally to build the program and organization, including three months of travel in the first year.
• Willingness to work during non-traditional business hours to accommodate time zones of staff and partners.
• Excellent English-language writing and communication skills.
• Fluency in French (strongly preferred).
• High level of organization, self-direction, and strong attention to detail.
• Sense of humor to maintain perspective and balance.
• Commitment to working as a team player – collaborating across projects, communicating clearly, and contributing to strengthening the organization.

Application instructions

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