This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.

Palestinian hotel workers ended 2010 with a major victory, gaining important rights and protections after more than a year of negotiations with the Arab Hotel Association.

Following a 16-month campaign to help workers choose a union, the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union (HRWU) reached an agreement with hotel owners that will improve working conditions and better  guarantee workers’ rights under existing labor law. The agreement, which was signed late last month, was extended to cover 65 hotels in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Solidarity Center supported the initial hotel organizing campaign.

“The agreement elevates and strengthens the workers’ spirits and creates optimism about improving working conditions,” said Ahmad Hasasneh, who helped workers join a union  in Ramallah and Bethlehem.

Shaker Hanna Salem, who works in housekeeping at a Ramallah hotel, said:

We are very proud of belonging to the HRWU and the PGFTU. We can talk to management about our issues. And while we did not succeed in achieving all demands, at least we know there is a chance for dialogue.

The agreement underscores respect for labor law (including basic health and safety provisions), training for workers and paid vacation. The pact also establishes a joint committee, with union and owner representation, that will continue to discuss other issues. Workers hope to gain collective bargaining agreements that would exceed minimum labor standards. About 900 hotel workers are union members. Staff levels at the 65 hotels range from 1,800 men and women to 2,600 people in high season.

“At first, the Arab Hotel Association was not very interested in negotiating,” said Nader Faraj, a food-and-beverages worker in a Bethlehem hotel. “[Management] even prohibited any communication between workers’ committees at one hotel with other hotel workers’ committees and the sector union.”

But when the unions showed up with a very high level of teamwork and with information and statistics on the cost of living and the economy of the tourism sector in Palestine, they accepted the fact that they have to talk to us.