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Unfortunately the negative image of industry
in relation to its working condition have contin-
ued to be highlighted by tourism scholars even in
recent years (Baum, 2007; Janta, Ladkin, Brown &
Lugosi, 2011; Lucas, 2004; Nickson, 2013).
The tourism sector in the main is often consid-
ered to be secondary labor market that faces low
wages, insecure employment and poor opportuni-
ties. The Low Pay Commission when it started its
research on working conditions before the imple-
mentation of the National Minimum Wage (NMW)
in the UK identified the tourism sector (more spe-
cifically hospitality) as one of the industry's with
the highest concentration of low paid workers in
the UK. Authors such as Wilkinson and Sachdev
(1998) at that time also highlighted that socially
downgraded low paid jobs are generally occupied
by disadvantaged people in the labor market and
they argued that '…the low paid are not low paid
because they lack skill: they are low paid because
their skills are not recognized or valued'. This has
been a continuous challenge faced by employees in
this sector and has hindered progress in relation
to improving pay practices. However, a number of
recent studies have started advocating against these
perceptions of 'unskilled' labour, highlighting the
importance of soft skills in the tourism sector that
should not be undervalued (Burns, 1997; Warhurst
& Nickson, 2007).
Over a decade has passed by since the introduc-
tion of the NMW in the UK aimed to combat low
pay, but Human Resource Management (HRM)
research in relation to working conditions in the
tourism sector is still topical. Some of the poor
employment practices continuously highlighted by
tourism scholars to name a few included long and
unsociable working hours, low pay, minimal com-
pliance with law, lack of training, lack of job secu-
rity and career progression. In short, as powerfully
presented by Wood (1997).
'Hospitality work is largely exploitative, degrad-
ing, poorly paid, unpleasant, insecure and taken as
last resort or because it can be tolerated in the light
of wider social and economic commitments and
constraints'.
This view can still be seen to be relevant within
current studies on experiences of migrant work-
ers in the tourism sector that highlighted migrant
workers plan to eventually move out of this sec-
tor because of the poor working conditions (Janta
et al., 2011) supporting the notion proposed by
Szivas and Riley's (1999) that '…tourism employ-
ment might play the role of ``any port in a storm'';
a refuge sector'. Even though a numbers of studies
(Devine, Baum, Hearns & Devine, 2007; Janta et al.,
2011) have shown the benefits migrant workers
bring to the industry, we should not deny that there
is an 'elephant in the room'. A large proportion
of migrant workers are fulfilling vacancies in the
industry mainly because the local employees are
not willing to tolerate the poor working conditions.
Therefore it is concerning to think that as long as
the migrant workers are able to fill these vacancies,
employers do not see the necessity to change their
practices to improve working conditions in the
sector. Indirectly, migrants may help to continue
entrench certain employment practices that are
favorable to employers (Janta et al., 2011) and as
Baum (2007) asserts '…the widespread recruitment
and use of migrant labor in the tourism industry of
developed countries has acted to the detriment of
real change within the sector's workplace'. In order
not to end this section on this pessimistic note, we
would like to propose that there are more debates
that are needed under the sustainable tourism and
CSR agenda to recognize and address this world-
wide problem. It is to these that we now turn.
3
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM, CSR
AND WORKING CONDITIONS
The notion of sustainable tourism is frequently
adopted by tourism scholars as well as practi-
tioners. Sustainable tourism, although variously
defined, has its roots in the sustainable develop-
ment movement which emerged in the late 1960s
and which raised awareness of potential negative
side-effects of a growth at all costs mentality. It
brought to light competing demands of economic
growth and environmental protection (Dresner,
2008) and sought a more equitable relationship
between the two. In relation to tourism develop-
ment Jafari, Smith and Brent (2001) emphasized
the move from an advocacy to a cautionary plat-
form where tourism was initially only acknowl-
edged as a tool to promote economic development,
with potential negative side-effects not being raised
until much destruction of natural habitats had
already occurred (Krippendorf, 1999).
Although sustainable tourism recognizes the
legitimacy of social concerns, there is a strong
emphasis on environmental protection in the sense
of intergenerational equity which is evident in
the ubiquitous definition of sustainable develop-
ment provided in the so-called Brundtland Report
(United Nations, 1987) from which sustainable
tourism draws much inspiration. Thus, we would
argue, that although not absent from the sustain-
able tourism agenda, the notion of social impacts
of tourism, in particular the relationship between
tourism development and working conditions have
not been of primary concern.
By contrast, scholarly concern with the 'business
and society relationship' has a longer history than
that of sustainable development. Carroll (1999) in a
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