Hotel Workers Rising

Hotel Workers Rising is long-term organizing campaign, created by UNITE HERE in 2006, aimed at organizing and mobilizing hotel workers to win improvements in the workplace. Demands include higher wages, better benefits, safer workloads, and the right to unionize freely.

Hotel Workers Rising
Websitewww.hotelworkersrising.org
"We Are One" march in Chicago, IL; 9 April 2009

Issues

Workers in the hotel industry are mainly women of color and immigrant women.[1][2] Often these women describe feeling "invisible"—expected to clean relentlessly without presenting a human face to hotel guests.[3] According to the workers, this status is connected to extremely poor working conditions and unreasonable expectations.

Injury Rates in Hotels

According to a report issued by the group hotel workers are "more than 48% more likely to be injured on the job than the typical service worker" and more than 51 percent more likely to experience disabling injuries.[1]

Within the industry, hotel housekeepers experience an injury rate 86 percent higher than non-housekeepers, according to the same study.

Wages

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage for housekeepers in the U.S. is $8.67. In New York city and San Francisco, California, where union density in this sector is 85 percent, the average hourly wage is $20.00 and $15.09, respectively.

In Phoenix, Arizona, where UNITE HERE's density is 5 percent, the average hourly wage is $7.60.

Right to unionize

Many hotel workers are non-union, and the campaign has accused many hotels and hotel companies of intimidation and union busting.[3]

Developments

UNITE HERE began its "Hotel Workers Rising" campaign in 2006, based on projections of rising hotel profits over the next eight years.[4]

Non-union hotel workers have also conducted a series of wildcat strike actions with some success.[4]

Allies

The Hotel Workers Rising campaign has garnered the support of individuals and community organizations outside of the labor movement. John Edwards and Danny Glover have both appeared at various events endorsing the goals of the campaign. For its recent Hyatt Hurts campaign, Hotel Workers Rising has formed alliances with many different groups, including the National Organization for Women, MoveOn.org, and the National Football Players Association.[3]

UNITE HERE has allied with LGBT rights activists creating the "Sleep With the Right People" slogan and collaborating on projects of mutual interest. The groups orchestrated a successful joint campaign (which involved a "Kiss-In" as well as a boycott)[5] against the San Diego Grand Hyatt, whose owner Doug Manchester was a major supporter of California Proposition 8.[6] (GOProud, a conservative gay organization, criticized the "gay left" for its "slavish loyalty to big labor".)[7]

Employers

Hyatt
Police arrive as workers picket the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Baltimore's Inner Harbor

The campaign has focused particularly on Hyatt hotels, and added its support to longstanding boycotts against Hyatt hotels internationally.[4]

HEI

Hotel Workers Rising has intensified its focus on HEI Hotels & Resorts, a major hotel manager. Pressure in 2012 caused a number of universities—including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Brown—to divest from the company.[8]

Workers have been protesting at an Embassy Suites hotel in Irvine, CA, owned by MassMutual, which has not allowed them unionize. In September 2012, the hotel's administrators (Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers) replaced HEI with Hostmark as the management company; workers went on strike to protest the bad conditions which, in their view, remained in place regardless of the company in charge.[9][10]

References
  1. "Creating Luxury, Enduring Pain: How Hotel Work is Hurting Workers Archived 2006-10-09 at the Wayback Machine", UNITE HERE!, April 2006.
  2. Arat-Koc, Sedef; Aparna Sundar; and Bryan Evans. "Hotel Workers Lead the Struggle to 'Upgrade' the Service Economy". MR Zine, 15 March 2007.
  3. Wolf, Naomi. "Hyatt Hurts: hotel workers organise global boycott for a fair deal: In a striking case of international solidarity, housekeeping staff worldwide are protesting their exploitation by the hotel giant". The Guardian, 4 October 2012.
  4. Tierney, Brian. "A new tide of labor militancy: Hotel Workers Rising". Counterpunch Weekend Edition, 19–21 November 2010.
  5. Braatz, Rick. "Groups stage Kiss-In at Manchester Grand Hyatt". Gay & Lesbian Times, 20 August 2009.
  6. Cersonsky, James. "An LGBT–Labor alliance: From Washington to Maryland, unions have become key players in the fight for marriage equality". Salon.com, 17 April 2012.
  7. Gay Patriot, "GOProud Breaks Boycott of Manchester Grand Hyatt". GOProud. 3 August 2010.
  8. "HEI Reconsidered: Not reinvesting in hotel company is the right choice for Harvard". Harvard Crimson, 9 April 2012.
  9. San Roman, Gabriel. "Embassy Suites Irvine Workers Strike Against New Management Company". OC Weekly, 12 September 2012.
  10. "Cornerstone's Embassy Suites Irvine workers go on strike " L.A. Biz, 13 September 2012.

UNITE HERE and allies

Opposed to the campaign

News
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