Sofitel hotel closes; Union to push fight

LAST DAY? A vehicle enters the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila in Pasay City on Sunday, the last day of its current iteration. —photos by Grig C. Montegrande

MANILA, Philippines — The landmark Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila officially shuts down on Monday after 46 years amid safety concerns and an escalating labor dispute.

The hotel, last managed by the multinational tourism company Accor SA under its Sofitel brand, bid farewell on its Facebook, thanking guests for memories that “have left an indelible mark on our hearts.”

The property, owned by the Government Service Insurance Service (GSIS), was one of 12 hotels that were built in a rush in the early 1970s, as part of preparations for the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank (IMF-WB), which was held in Manila in 1976.

READ: Hontiveros wants inquiry into Sofitel’s closure

After the IMF-WB meeting, management of the hotel was contracted to the global Starwood hotel chain and was known as the Westin Philippine Plaza until 2005. The following year, Accor SA acquired the management contract and renamed the hotel as Sofitel Philippine Plaza.

In May, however, Accor announced that the hotel would have to be permanently closed after 24 fire incidents affected the property’s structural integrity.

Lease extended

However, the National Union of Workers in Hotel, Restaurant and Allied Industries (Nuwhrain) released on Sunday a statement criticizing the closure process.

According to the union, Philippine Plaza Holdings Inc. (PPHI), the hotel’s owner, “terminated over a thousand of the hotel’s employees due to the closure.” The union argued that this move is deceptive, noting that despite appearances, “PPHI still has plans for renovations within the premises.”

The statement claimed that the hotel management has extended their lease with the GSIS until 2041, with plans to potentially extend further to 2066. This extension, the union claimed, is to “earn back at least the P3 billion to P4 billion, possibly even more,” spent on renovations.

CLOSING WITHOUT CLOSURE Musicians play classical pieces at Sofitel’s iconic spiral stairway leading to its ground floor restaurant, where customers have lined up as the hotel operates on its last day on Sunday before it closes for renovation. Since the 1970s, the iconic hotel had been a popular “staycation” place for Metro Manila residents. But the landmark is also beset by labor issues, with workers protesting its shutdown.

“It is clear that the PPHI has plans for the hotel’s future, yet the workers themselves have been terminated, leaving them in the dark and unemployed,” the union statement read. The union characterized this as “nothing less than union busting at the cruel, greedy and heartless hands of PPHI.”

No consultation

The union accused PPHI and Accor SA of violating labor standards, asserting that “PPHI has failed to work with the union meaningfully with regard to their plans for the hotel.”

“All the workers ever wanted was, if the hotel will reopen, to be guaranteed the retention of their jobs and the respect and recognition of their unions and collective bargaining agreement,” Nuwhrain said.

Despite the closure, the union said it would stage an “unrelenting campaign with international allies” to hold Accor accountable for what they see as complicity in PPHI’s actions.

The dispute has caught political attention, with Sen. Risa Hontiveros calling for an investigation of the “labor policy implications” of the hotel closure.

The union, for its part, has vowed to keep fighting until “the hotel workers themselves, during the eventual reopening, shall be the ones to cut the ribbon.”

“So long as one of us remains standing, the fight is not yet over,” Nuwhrain said.