Fiesta Cruise Lines - Diversity Action Plan

Fiesta Cruise Lines-Diversity Action Plan

Presented by International Diversity in Action (IDA)

Learning Team C: Elaine Leisten, Jolene Morrison, Kim Rafferty, Randall Munkres

SOC 315—Cultural Diversity

University of Phoenix

Leslee Whiteman, M.Ed.

November 14, 2005

A Letter from the CEO

I am making strategic human capital management (diversity) one of this company’s top priorities.  The standards for success associated with this endeavor incorporate an understanding that no company can meet its goals without recruiting and retaining the best people from every background and community.

I genuinely believe that a company with unparalleled diversity is a source of greatness.  Our company should invite participation from a wide and diverse range of customers as well as workforce personnel.  Diversity is an asset that we leverage in our business cycle, and should also be an asset we need to leverage in our workforce.  I see the diversity of our workforce as a source of strength, insight, and versatility but we have more to do to reflect the diversity of our customers.

Achieving a diverse workforce requires the commitment of every one of us.  Whether a worker is a senior executive, mid-level manager, first-line supervisor, or employee, he or she have a critical role to play in supporting a culture that fosters diversity to achieve results.  As you read our new Diversity Action Plan, I challenge you to look for ways you can contribute to the removal of barriers and the creation of an environment where all employees realize their full potential and work together to carry out the missions of the company.

Preface

The cruise industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors of an already rapidly expanding tourism industry. This is perhaps unsurprising, given the advantages that cruise ships enjoy relative to on-land resorts and vacation spots. Cruise ships carry an average of 2000 passengers, giving cruise lines a rich and captive supply of vacationers; passengers are frequently confined within a total commodified environment replete with additional moneymaking opportunities. At the same time, cruise ships sail in international waters under flags of convenience from countries prepared to ignore labor and international maritime standards, providing opportunities for abuse of labor rights and environmental regulations. Below deck, workers face unsafe and exploitative labor conditions on cruise industry “sweat ships.” Often recruited from poor countries and isolated from family for months and years, employees toil especially long hours (restaurant staff and room stewards typically work 80 hours a week) for low wages on non-stop six to ten month contracts (Roberts, 2003). The isolated and confined working conditions breed favoritism and strict hierarchies in work assignments, backed by authoritarian management and harsh discipline. Racism, gender segregation and discrimination by nationality govern the allocation of jobs, and labor standards and protections of workers’ rights go un-enforced (Nuenke, 2001).